Giovanni Bononcini

Giovanni Bononcini was born in Modena (in the central/north part of Italy, about half-way between Venice and Genoa) in 1670 and was to die in Vienna some 77 years later, in 1747. That makes him just about a contemporary of Handel, Bach and Scarlatti. He was the son of Giovanni Maria Bononcini, another famous-in-his-day Italian composer, so be careful not to confuse the two! This one doesn't use a middle name

He was orphaned by the death of his father when he was just 8 years old; he studied music thereafter in Bologna and published three instrumental collections aged just 15. By 20, he had written oratorios, four double-choir masses, vocal duets and more instrumental works: he was prodigious, basically!

He then had a varied career, travelling between the various capitals of Europe: Rome by 1692, Vienna in 1697, Berlin in 1702, London in 1720. He returned to Vienna in 1736 and remained there until his death. His extensive travels meant that he was one of the most widely-known composers across Europe by the turn of the 1710s. This didn't mean he was universally admired: his strong use of counterpoint ran counter to current taste and his 'baroque simplicity' was wildly out of date in the 1720s, when Handel's vigorous complexity ruled the roost in London musical circles. The Manchester poet John Byrom (1692-1763) summed things up in this way:

Some say, compar'd to Bononcini
That Mynheer Handel's but a Ninny.
Others aver, that he to Handel
Is scarcely fit to hold a Candle.
Strange all this Difference should be
'Twixt Tweedle-dum and Tweedle-dee!

(This, by the way, from the same pen that brought you the lyrics to Christians, awake, salute the happy morn!)

The New Groves asserts that 'some contemporary Londoners derided Bononcini's power to lull listeners to sleep; and his music was condemned by some “very fine Gentlement for its too great Simplicity”'. Obviously, that's a verdict that history appears to agree with: he is a mostly-obscure composer these days and standalone recordings of his music are not easy to come by, despite its vast range and quantity. I find it distinctive and engaging, however, for whatever that matters!

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