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{{Short description|Italian composer and organist (1725–1813)}}

factoids

| birth_place = Salò181318df=y}}| death_place = Desenzano del Garda| nationality = Italian| other_names = | occupation = Composer and organist.| years_active = | known_for = | notable_works = *Composed 70 operas

• Composed 200 sacred works

}}Ferdinando Gasparo Bertoni (15 August 1725 – 1 December 1813) was an Italian composer and organist.

Early years

He was born in Salò, and began his music studies in Brescia, not far from his birthplace. Around 1740 he went to Bologna, where he studied until 1745 with the famous music theorist Giovanni Battista Martini.WEB,weblink Ferdinando Bertoni: Sacred Choral Works, Anderson, Nicholas, 2013-01-09, www.gramophone.co.uk, en, 2018-03-21,

Career

Then he moved to Venice, where in 1752 he was appointed as first organist at San Marco. From 1755 to 1777 he was choirmaster at the Ospedale dei Mendicanti, also in Venice. In the period 1778–1783 he was in London, where he composed operas for the King's Theatre. Back to Venice in 1784, he succeeded Baldassare Galuppi in 1785 as Kapellmeister of San Marco and preserved this position until his retirement in 1808.WEB,weblink Ferdinando Bertoni {{!, Biography & History {{!}} AllMusic|website=AllMusic|access-date=2018-03-21}}

Works

A prolific writer of church music, Bertoni also composed 70 operas which fell into oblivion, except OrfeoWEB,weblink Ferdinando Bertoni, Label Fra Bernardo, www.discovery-records.com, 2018-03-21, (Venice, Teatro San Benedetto, 1776), based on the same libretto by Ranieri de' Calzabigi for the work of Christoph Willibald Gluck, Orfeo ed Euridice (Burgtheater, Vienna, 1762).WEB,weblink Ferdinando Bertoni: Sacred Choral Works, Anderson, Nicholas, 2013-01-09, www.gramophone.co.uk, en, 2018-03-21, Bertoni composed this work especially for his friend Gaetano Guadagni, a castrato, who would interpret the role of Orfeo (the same role he had interpreted in Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice). Bertoni generally ignored Gluck's reforms and composed the work in the old style of opera seria.WEB,weblink Welcome to Bampton Classical Opera, Bertoni composed at least 200 sacred works (including about 50 oratorios) and cantatas, instrumental work and chamber music.WEB,weblink Ferdinando Bertoni {{!, ArkivMusic|website=www.arkivmusic.com|language=en|access-date=2018-03-21}}

Death

He died in Desenzano del Garda.

Performances

File:Orfeo_%26_Blessed_Spirits.jpg|thumb|Scene from the production of Orfeo by Bampton Classical OperaBampton Classical OperaBampton Classical Opera performed his opera Orfeo ed Euridice in 2014, singing in English.WEB,weblink Orfeo Bertoni, 28 November 2020,

Recordings

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Orfeo ed Euridice

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• Anna Starushkevych, the Ukrainian mezzo-soprano, explains how she prepares for a role, including (from about 7:40) her role in Bampton Classical Opera's production of Bertoni's Orfeo ed Euridice.WEB,weblinkweblink 2021-12-19, live, Role Preparation Process. Anna Starushkevych, YouTube, 15 November 2020, {{cbignore}}

References

{{reflist}}

External links

• {{ChoralWiki}}
• {{IMSLP|id=Bertoni, Ferdinando}}

{{Maestri di cappella at Saint Mark's Basilica}}{{Authority control}}