Background
He was born on 18 January in 1706 on the island of Burano in the Venetian Republic (now Italy). His father, a barber, and violinist at the local theatre was his first teacher.
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He was born on 18 January in 1706 on the island of Burano in the Venetian Republic (now Italy). His father, a barber, and violinist at the local theatre was his first teacher.
Baldassare entered the Conservatorio degli Incurabili at Venice, as a pupil of Antonio Lotti.
After successfully producing two operas in collaboration with a fellow-pupil, G. B. Pescetti, in 1728 and 1729, he entered upon a busy career as a composer of operas for Venetian theatres, writing sometimes as many as five in a year.
Baldassare visited London in 1741 and arranged a pasticcio, Alexander in Persia, for the Haymarket. In 1740 he became vice-maestro di cappella at St Mark's and maestro in 1762.
Burney considered his influence on English music to have been very powerful.
In 1749 he began writing comic operas to libretti by Goldoni, which enjoyed an enormous popularity.
He was invited to Russia by Catherine II in 1766, where his operas made a favorable impression, and his influence was also felt in Russian church music.
His melody is attractive rather than original, but his workmanship in harmony and orchestration is generally superior to that of his contemporaries.
Baldassare achieved international success, spending periods of his career in Vienna, London, and Saint Petersburg, but his main base remained Venice, where he held a succession of leading appointments. From the late 20th century onwards an increasing number of Galuppi's works have been committed to disc.
Galuppi's best works are his comic operas, of which II Filosofo di Campagna (1754), known in England as The Guardian Trick'd (Dublin, 1762) was the most popular.
Quotes from others about the person
Burney, who visited him in Venice, wrote in 1771:
It seems as if the genius of Signor Galuppi, like that of Titian, became more animated by age. He cannot now be less than seventy years old, and yet it is generally allowed here that his last operas and his last compositions for the church abound with more spirit, taste, and fancy, than those of any other period of his life.
Baldassare had wife and daughters and son.
