Cambini - Symphony Concertante for Oboe and Bassoon in B Flat - Mov. 1/2

GIUSEPPE MARIA CAMBINI (1746 - 1825)

Symphony concertante for oboe, bassoon, and orchestra in B flat major

1. Allegro

Performed by the Academia Montis Regalis
Directed by Luigi Mangiocavallo

*Giuseppe Maria Gioacchino Cambini (February 13?, 1746 - 1825?) was an Italian composer and violinist.

Born in Livorno, Cambini first studied violin with Filippo Manfredi. A legend says that after one of his operas flopped in Naples, Cambini and his fiancee left on a ship that was captured by pirates. A rich Venetian recognized Cambini's talent and purchased his freedom from the pirates.

Regardless of the legend, Cambini arrived in Paris some time before or in 1773, and after one of his Symphonies was played at a Concert Spirituel, his music was published as soon as he wrote it, quickly building up an oeuvre of much instrumental music and a dozen operas. Sometimes, however, music of other composers was published under his name, as happened with one Symphony of Joseph Martin Kraus.

When Mozart was in Paris, a Concert Spirituel with Mozart's Symphonie Concertante, K. 297b, was cancelled, and Mozart blamed Cambini (this was part of Mozart's pattern of badmouthing Italian composers, such as Antonio Salieri).

"I think that what was behind all this was cambini, an Italian maestro whom I offended, without meaning to, the first time we met at Le Gros'. I had heard one of his quartets in Mannheim; they're quite good and I complimented him on them, nad played the opening bars of one. Then Ritter, Ramm and Punto refused to let it go at that but insisted I continue, improvising whatever I did not remember. I did this, and Cambini, absolutely livid, blurted out: 'Questa e una gran testa!' (There's a big-head for you!). I don't think the incident was altogether to his liking."

Mozart's false allegation may have had something to do with the fact that Cambini wrote a lot of Symphonies Concertante.

During the French Revolution, Cambini wrote hymns for the revolutionaries, but after the political arena calmed down, Cambini wrote less music and more essays about music, and the popularity of his music quickly declined. From this point, Cambini's biography is very sketchy: he might have stayed in Paris to his death sometime in the 1820s, or he might have gone to the Netherlands and died in the late 1810s.

Only two of Cambini's operas survive in their entirety, while the large amount of his String Quartets that he wrote and have been passed down to this day have led some commentators to believe that Cambini had a major role in the development of the String Quartet in France.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• classical
• symphony
• string
• quartet
• quintet
• sonata
• sinfonia
• haydn
• mozart
• boccherini

[NotHomelessAnymore]

I have to ask Harmonico... any idea how Mozart's claims about Cambini were found out to be false?

[HARMONICO101]

The claim is not false. Cambini being behind it is false.

[curtalguy]

Who is the bassoon player?  Oboist? Very nice playing from both! What a nice piece. Thanks.

[Harund7]

Is great!! awesome!!

[beauveau63]

@cyagnusxi it is nice, especially in comparison to the "art" being created in 2010. i supposed that it's funny for some people to think of a time when the natural human form wasn't thought of as something embarrassing...

[cyagnusxi]

a bunch of naked people in the sky.. how nice.

[NotHomelessAnymore]

Oh... sorry, I misunderstood, I thought the false allegation was to do with Cambini getting mad at Mozart improvising, not with him getting his concert cancelled.

I'll read more carefully next time ;-)