Porta, Giovanni

Porta, Giovanni , Italian composer; b. c. 1675; d. Munich, June 21, 1755. He was maestro di cappella at Vicenza Cathedral in 1710–11, and at Verona Cathedral from 1714 to 1716. His first opera, La costanza combattuta in amore, was premiered in Venice on Oct. 17, 1716. He then studied with Francesco Gasparini, with whom he and another composer collaborated on the opera Il Trace in catena (Rome, Canrival 1717). Porta’s opera L’Argippo was given in Venice in 1717. He was commissioned to write the opera Numitore for the opening season of the Royal Academy of Music in London at the King’s Theatre (April 2, 1720). From 1726 to 1737 he served as maestro di coro at the Ospedale della Pietà in Venice, and he also was a member of the Accademia Filarmonica in Verona from 1726. In 1737 Porta was called to Munich by the Elector Karl Albert to serve as Hofkapellmeister at the Bavarian court, a position he retained for the rest of his life. Among his many other operas were L’Arianna dell’isola di Nasso (Milan, Aug. 28, 1723), Antigone, tutore di Filippo, re di Macedonia (Venice, Carnival 1724; in collaboration with Albinoni), Ulisse (Venice, Carnival 1725), Farnace (Bologne, 1731), Gianguir (Milan, Carnival 1732), La Semiramide (Milan, Carnival 1733), and Ifigenia in Aulide (Munich, Jan. 1738). He also wrote much sacred vocal music.

Bibliography

G. von Westerman, G. P. als Opernkomponist (diss., Univ. of Munich, 1921).

—Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire