Giuseppe Antonio Brescianello

(1690 - 1758)

Italian composer. Nothing is known of his life until he arrived in Munich from Venice in 1715 as a viola player for the Elector of Bavaria, Max Emanuel. A short time afterwards, in 1716, he left for the Würtemburg court of Duke Eberhard Ludwig in Stuttgart, where in 1717, as "musique directeur, maître des concerts de la chambre" he succeded Johann Christoph Pez in the office of court Kapellmeister. During the years 1719-21, Reinhard Keiser attempted determinedly but unsuccessfully to oust the "damned Italian" from his position. In 1731 Brescianello finally received the title "Councillor and First Kapellmeister." By then he was successfully in charge of a large court orchestra that on occasion numbered more than sixty musicians. Following the death of the sovereign Karl Alexander in 1737, the court finances were so catastrophically reduced that the orchestra was reduced to just a few musicians and Brescianello lost his post. It was not until 1744, when Karl Eugen assumed the throne, that Brescianello was reappointed to his former positiom, from which he finally retired in 1751. He remained in Stuttgart, where he died in 1758. He built his reputation more on performing and conducting (by all accounts he almost single-handedly rejuvenated musical life in Stuttgart during his tenure there), though he composed a few instrumental works as well.





VIIG: Concerto, Concerto Grosso and Symphony