Born in Milan, Jan 6, 1695
Died in London, c. Nov 17–23, 1750
In case you wanted to know, his full name was Giuseppe Francesco Gaspare Melchiorre Baldassare Sammartini.1
- Born in Milan, Sammartini was the son of French oboist Alexis St. Martin and brother of composer Giovanni Battista Sammartini. Both brothers played the oboe.
- Sammartini spent most of his adult career in England, where Handel wrote challenging obbligato oboe parts for him in his operas.
- Sammartini was also the music instructor to the Princess of Wales and her children.
“The finest performer on the hautboy in Europe.”
Giuseppe Sammartini’s obituary
Sammartini’s music was “full of science, originality and fire.”
Music historian Charles Burney 2
Sources
- Kindergarten must have been rough for him.
- Bathia Churgin, “Sammartini [S Martini, St Martini, San Martini, San Martino, Martini, Martino], Giuseppe,” Grove Music Online (2001), accessed January 21, 2020, https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000024464.