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MARTINI, GIOVANNI BATTISTA (1706–1784)

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Originally appearing in Volume V17, Page 801 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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MARTINI, GIOVANNI BATTISTA (1706–1784) , See also:Italian musician, was See also:born at See also:Bologna on the 24th of See also:April 1706. His See also:father, See also:Antonio Maria Martini, a violinist, taught him the elements of See also:music and the See also:violin; later he learned singing and See also:harpsichord playing from Padre Pradieri, and See also:counterpoint from Antonio Riccieri. Having received his See also:education in See also:classics from the fathers of the See also:oratory of See also:San Filippo See also:Neri, he afterwards entered upon a noviciate at the Franciscan monastery at Lago, at the See also:close of which he was received as a Minorite on the 11th of See also:September 1722. In 1725, though only nineteen years old, he received the See also:appointment of See also:chapel-See also:master in the Franciscan See also:church at Bologna, where his compositions attracted See also:attention. At the invitation of amateurs and professional See also:friends he opened a school of See also:composition at which several celebrated musicians were trained; as a teacher he consistently declared his preference for the traditions of ^the old See also:Roman school of composition. Padre Martini was a zealous See also:collector of musical literature, and possessed an extensive musical library. See also:Burney estimated it at 17,000 volumes; after Martini's See also:death a portion of it passed to the Imperial library at See also:Vienna, the See also:rest remaining in Bologna, now in the Liceo See also:Rossini. Most contemporary musicians speak of Martini with admiration, and See also:Mozart's father consulted him with regard to the talents of his son. See also:Abt See also:Vogler, however, makes reservations in his praise, condemning his philosophical principles as too much in sympathy with those of See also:Fox, which had already been expressed by P. Vallotti. He died at Bologna on the 4th of See also:August 1784. His Elogio was published by Pietro della See also:Valle at Bologna in the same See also:year.

The greater number of Martini's sacred compositions remain unprinted. The Liceo of Bologna possesses the See also:

MSS. of two oratorios; and a See also:requiem, with some other pieces of church music, are now in Vienna. Litaniae atque antiphonae finales B. V. Mariae were published at Bologna in 1734, as also twelve Sonate d'intavolatura; six Sonate per l'organo ed it cembalo in 1747; and Duetti da See also:camera in 1763. Martini's most important See also:works are his Storia della musica (Bologna, 1757–1781) and his Saggio di contrapunto (Bologna, 1774-1775). The former, of which the three published volumes relate wholly to See also:ancient music, and thus represent a See also:mere fragment of the author's vast See also:plan, exhibits immense See also:reading and See also:industry, but is written in a dry and unattractive See also:style, and is overloaded with See also:matter which cannot be regarded as See also:historical. At the beginning and end of each See also:chapter occur See also:puzzle-canons, wherein the See also:primary See also:part or parts alone are given, and the reader has to discover the See also:canon that fixes the See also:period and the See also:interval at which the response is to enter. Some of these are exceedingly difficult, but See also:Cherubini solved the whole of them. The Saggio is a learned and valuable See also:work, containing an important collection of examples from the best masters of the old Italian and See also:Spanish See also:schools, with excellent explanatory notes. It treats chiefly of the tonalities of the See also:plain See also:chant, and of counterpoints constructed upon them. Besides being the author of several controversial works, Martini See also:drew up a See also:Dictionary of Ancient Musical Terms, which appeared in the second See also:volume of G.

B. Doni's Works; he also published a See also:

treatise on The Theory of See also:Numbers as applied to Music. His celebrated canons, published in See also:London, about 1800, edited by Pio Cianchettini, show him to have had a strong sense of musical See also:humour.

End of Article: MARTINI, GIOVANNI BATTISTA (1706–1784)

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