Pescetti, Giovanni Battista
Pescetti, Giovanni Battista
Pescetti, Giovanni Battista,Italian composer; b. Venice, c. 1704; d. there, March 20, 1766. He was the grandson of CF. Pollarolo. Following his training with Lotti, he became active as an opera composer, frequently collaborating with Galuppi. In 1736 he went to London as director of the Opera of the Nobility, where he commenced a rivalry with Handel. Pescetti’s opera Demetrio, first performed in Venice in 1732, was given in London in a revised version on Feb. 12, 1737. His success was short- lived, and from 1738 he prepared various pasticcios. He returned to Venice about 1745, where he wrote a number of works for the stage. In 1762 he became 2nd organist at San Marco. He wrote about 25 operas in all, as well as sacred music and instrumental pieces.
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire