Giovanni Battista Pergolesi (1710-1736); ITA

Giovanni Battista Pergolesi (1710–1736) was an Italian composer born in Jesi and educated at the Conservatorio dei Poveri di Gesù Cristo in Naples. Despite a career cut short by tuberculosis at only twenty-six, he achieved lasting fame in both opera and sacred music. He worked principally in Naples and nearby centers under aristocratic patronage, composing serious and comic operas as well as church music.

Pergolesi’s comic intermezzo La serva padrona, originally performed between the acts of his opera Il prigionier superbo, became enormously influential and later played a central role in the Parisian Querelle des Bouffons. His final sacred work, the Stabat Mater, became one of the most frequently printed compositions of the eighteenth century. Other works include L’Olimpiade and Salve Regina. His early death and popularity also led many works by others to be incorrectly attributed to him.

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Read biography at allmusic.com.