Ecole vénitienne vers 1750

F. Lesure, Collection musicale André Meyer, Abbeville, 1961, cité p.96, reproduit pl.117

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Baldassare Galuppi fut l’un des compositeurs d’opera seria les plus importants du milieu du XVIIIème siècle et une figure centrale dans le développement du dramma giocoso. Lorsque le présent portrait a été peint, il était le compositeur d’opéra le plus populaire.

Galuppi est particulièrement apprécié pour ses œuvres réalisées entre 1749-1754 en collaboration avec Carlo Goldoni. Ils établirent ensemble le dramma giocoso. Dans ce genre nouveau Galuppi a uni les personnages de l’opera seria avec ceux de l’opera buffa (paysans, servants, bouffons, etc), une nouveauté dans l’histoire de l’opéra qui culmina dans Le nozze di Figaro de Mozart (1786) et plus particulièrement dans Don Giovanni (1787; un dramma giocoso en deux actes).

Galuppi est originaire de l’île de Burano près de Venise, et fut longtemps associé à l’opéra vénitien et à celui de St Marc (mentionné dans l’inscription sur le portrait). Il devint vicemaestro de la chapelle ducale de St Marc en 1748 et maestro di coro en 1762. Il composa environ une centaine d’opéras, dont une douzaine de drammi giocosi, avec des livrets par Goldoni, les plus célèbres étant Il filosofo di campagna (1754), et Le nozze (1755).

Le grand écrivain mélomane de l’époque, Charles Burney, considérait Galuppi comme étant le plus inspiré de tous les compositeurs vénitiens après Jommelli, et le plaçait même au-dessus de Piccinni. Burney rencontra et décrivit le compositeur en 1770 : « Son caractère et sa conversation sont naturels, intelligents et agréables. Il est petit et fin mais a les traits d’un gentleman…il a l’apparence de l’homme de bonne famille et est estimé à Venise, aussi bien dans le privé que lorsqu’il exerce ses talents en public ».
Goldoni chanta ses louanges dans un poème contenant l’épigramme « Che musica! che stile! che capolavori! » .

Le présent portrait est utilisé comme illustration pour l’article sur Galuppi dans The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, (29 volumes, 2001), vol.9, pp. 483-489. 
Il existe un autre portrait  de Galuppi gravé par G.Bernasconi.

Baldassare Galuppi was one of the most important mid-eighteenth-century composers of opera seria and a central figure in the development of the dramma giocoso.  At the time the present portrait was painted, Galuppi was the most popular opera composer anywhere.   

Galuppi is particularly celebrated for his collaborations with Carlo Goldoni during the years 1749-1754, which established the dramma giocoso.  Here Goldoni mixed character-types from opera seria with those from opera buffa (peasants, servants, elderly buffoons etc)--an important development in the history of opera which culminated in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro (1786) and (particularly) Don Giovanni (1787; a dramma giocoso in two acts).   

Galuppi came from the island of Burano near Venice, and was long associated with the Venetian opera and with St Mark's (mentioned in the inscription on this portrait). He became vice maestro of the ducal chapel at St Mark's in 1748 and maestro di coro there in 1762.  He composed about one hundred operas in all, including a dozen drammi giocosi to librettos by Goldoni, the most famous being Il filosofo di campagna (1754), and Le nozze (1755).

The great contemporary writer on music Charles Burney considered Galuppi to be the most inspired of all Venetian composers, superior to Piccinni, and second only to Jommelli.  Burney met and described the composer in 1770: "His character and conversation are natural, intelligent, and agreeable.  He is in figure little and thin but has very much the look of a gentleman...he has the appearance of a regular family man and is esteemed at Venice as much for his private character as for his public talents'.   Goldoni praised him in a poem with the epigram "Che musica! che stile! che capolavori!".

The present portrait is used to illustrate the article on Galuppi in The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, (29 volumes, 2001), vol.9, pp.483-489.

Contemporary portraits of leading Italian composers of the eighteenth century are rare.  There also exists an engraving of Galuppi by G. Bernasconi.