Baroque: Giuseppe Brescianello

On a CD with a collection of sheet music, I found a number of suites by Giuseppe Brescianello (1690 - 1758) and decided to play a few of them. It became a pleasant experience with original music.

We do not know a lot of the youth of Giuseppe Antonio Brescianello, he supposedly was born in Bologna and took off to Germany at a young age to try his luck. His name did not appear in appointments before 1715 when he got a position as a violist in the orchestra of Maximilian II, the then ruler of Bavaria. After this experience he obtained positions at various courts in Germany and a post at the Opera Theatre in Stuttgart. Unfortunately, his arrival often caused quarrels and trouble with the sitting musicians.

Brescianello is a clear representative of the Italian Baroque, his music is full of the typical structures that were common those days. During his musical career, he composed operas and music for Gallichone, a lute-like instrument, besides chamber music, his compositions include 18 partitas/sonatas, a rewarding source for baroque music for guitar. The suites in this section of the site are arrangements of these works. Unfortunately, his compositions yielded him less fame than his work as Court Bandmaster.