Giovanni Battista Draghi (1710 – 1736), usually
referred to as Giovanni Battista Pergolesi, was an
Italian Baroque composer, violinist, and organist,
leading exponent of the Baroque; he is considered one
of the greatest Italian musicians of the first half of
the 18th century and one of the most important
representatives of the Neapolitan school. Despite his
short life and few years of activity (he died of
tuberculosis at the age of 26), he managed to create
works of high artistic value and his...(+)
Giovanni Battista Draghi (1710 – 1736), usually
referred to as Giovanni Battista Pergolesi, was an
Italian Baroque composer, violinist, and organist,
leading exponent of the Baroque; he is considered one
of the greatest Italian musicians of the first half of
the 18th century and one of the most important
representatives of the Neapolitan school. Despite his
short life and few years of activity (he died of
tuberculosis at the age of 26), he managed to create
works of high artistic value and historical importance,
among which we remember La serva padrona (The Maid
Turned Mistress), of the highest importance for the
development and diffusion of the opera buffa in Europe,
L'Olimpiade, considered one of the masterpieces of the
opera seria of the first half of the eighteenth
century, and the Stabat Mater, among the most important
works of sacred music of all time. If in life, despite
numerous awards, Pergolesi's fame was almost
exclusively limited to the Neapolitan and Roman musical
milieu, so it should come as no surprise that this
figure of composer, who died very young with an
artistic parable of only five years and yet able to
leave a handful of unforgettable compositions, has been
able to influence poets and artists who, during the
19th century, reinterpreted the figure in a romantic
key.
Lost for nearly 300 years, his mass in D Major (P.46)
is proving popular after being rediscovered by
researchers. Sacred music in this period and especially
Pergolesi's contribution to this music, is really a
theatre of soul. It's not opera, not at all, it's a
theatre of emotion. The mass, believed to have been
composed around 1731, was stitched together recently by
Italian musicologists from a patchwork of sources in
different libraries. The sources were in disarray,
scattered all around Europe, and very difficult to find
an actual version. The concept of lost music is not
very clear to many people. Music can be lost, just
because it is on the wrong shelf of the library and it
stays there for centuries.
Source: Wikipedia
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giovanni_Battista_Pergol
esi).
Although originally composed for Chorus (SATB) and
Keyboard (Harpsichord), I created this Interpretation
of the "Gloria in excelsis Deo" (Glory to God in the
highest) from the Mass in D Major (P.46 No. 2) for
Winds (Flute, Oboe, French Horn & Bassoon) and Strings
(2 Violins, Viola & Cello).
