Niccoló Jommelli

Jommelli, Niccoló

 

Born Sept. 10, 1714, in A versa, near Naples; died Aug. 25, 1774, in Naples. Italian composer, representative of the Neapolitan school of opera.

Jommelli became a member of the Bologna Philharmonic Academy in 1741. He composed more than 70 operas; among his most outstanding were Merope (1741), Artaxerxes (1749), and Phaethon (1753; 2nd version, 1768). Jommelli also wrote church music (for example, the famous Miserere) and intermezzi (for example, Don Falcone, which was performed in St. Petersburg in 1779). Anticipating the operatic reforms of C. W. Gluck, he assigned an important place to the accompanied recitative and intensified the dramatic role of the chorus and the orchestra in his operas.

REFERENCES

Livanova, T. N. Istoriia zapadno-evropeiskoi muzyki do 1789 goda. Moscow-Leningrad, 1940.
Abert, N. Niccoló Jommelli als Opernkomponist. Halle, 1908.