Bertoni, Ferdinando (Gioseffo)

Bertoni, Ferdinando (Gioseffo), esteemed Italian composer, organist, and pedagogue; b. Salò, near Venice, Aug. 15, 1725; d. Desenzano, Dec. 1, 1813. He was a student of Padre Martini in Bologna. He settled in Venice, where he successfully brought out his first opera in 1745, and soon established an enviable reputation as a composer for the theater. In 1752 he was appointed to the post of first organist at San Marco, where he succeeded Galuppi as maestro di cappella in 1785. He also was maestro di cappella at the Mendicanti (1757–97). As a teacher, he numbered among his pupils Calegari, Mayr, and Pacchierotti. In 1773 he was elected a member of the Accademia Filarmonica in Bologna, and in 1804 of the Accademia degli Unanimi in Salò. Bertoni was one of the leading Venetian opera composers of his day. Many of his operas were performed abroad, including several during his two visits to London (1778-81; 1781-83). He also was admired for his sacred music.

Works

DRAMATIC (all first perf. in Venice unless otherwise given): comic opera:La vedova accorta (Carnival 1745); La pescatrici (Dec. 26, 1751); I bagni d’Abano (Feb. 1753; in collaboration with Galuppi); La moda (Carnival 1754); La vicende amorose (1760); La bella Girometta (1761); L’ingannatore ingannato (Carnival 1764); L’anello incantato (1771); L’orfane svizzere (Livorno, Carnival 1774); La governante (London, May 15, 1779); II duca di Atene (London, May 9, 1780); // convito, or The Banquet (London, Nov. 2, 1782). Opere Serie: 11 Cajetto (Carnival 1746); Orazio e Curiazio (1746); Armida (Dee. 26, 1746); Ipermestra (Genoa, Carnival 1748); Antigono (1752); Ginevra (1753); Sesostri (Turin, Dec. 26, 1754); Antigona (Genoa, Carnival 1756); Lucio Vero (Turin, Carnival 1757); II Vologeso (Padua, 1759); Ifigenia in Aulide (Turin, 1762); Achille in Sciro (Carnival 1764);ll Bajazetto (Parma, May 3, 1765); Olimpiade (Carnival 1765); Tancredi (Turin, Dec. 26, 1766); Ezio (Carnival 1767); Semiramide riconosciuta (Naples, May 30, 1767); Scipione nelle Spagne (Milan, Jan. 30, 1768); Alessandro nell’Indie (Genoa, 1769); lltrionfo di Clelia (Padua, June 10, 1769); Emione (Udine, Aug. 1770); Decébalo (Treviso, Oct. 1770); Andromaca (Dec. 26, 1771); Narale (May 25, 1774); Aristo e Ternira (Jan. 3, 1776); Orfeo ed Euridice (Jan. 3, 1776); Creonte (Modena, Jan. 27, 1776); Artaserse (Forlì, 1776); Telemaco ed Eurice nell’isola di Calipso (Dee. 26, 1776); Medonte (Turin, Dec. 26, 1777); Quinto Fabio (Milan, Jan. 31, 1778); Demofoonte (London, Nov. 28, 1778); Armida abbandonata (Dec. 26, 1780); Cago Mario (1781); Cimene (London, Jan. 7, 1783); Eumene (Dec. 26, 1783); Nitteti (Feb. 6, 1789); Angelica e Medoro (Carnival 1791). Other: 18 occasional dramatic pieces and some 50 oratorios. INSTRUMENTAL: Sinfonías; string quartets; trio sonatas; harpsichord sonatas. SACRED VOCAL: Some 50 oratorios; several masses and mass movements; Requiem; 87 motets; more than 40 Psalms and Psalm verses; 17 hymns and canticles; 9 marian antiphons.

Bibliography

G. Bustico, Per la storia del melodramma: F. B. e Rubinelli (Salò, 1913); I. Haas, F. B.: Leben und Instrumentalwerk (Vienna, 1958).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire