Giovanni Battista Martini (1706–1784)
A Franciscan friar in Bologna, “Padre Martini” was the most renowned teacher of counterpoint in eighteenth-century Europe; young Mozart and Johann Christian Bach were among his pupils.
Giovanni Battista Martini was born in Bologna in 1706 and spent almost his whole life there. He joined the Franciscan order and became maestro di cappella of the church of San Francesco in Bologna, a post he held for decades.
His fame rested above all on his learning: he assembled a huge music library, wrote an unfinished History of Music and a treatise on counterpoint based on the study of older masters. Musicians from all over Europe wrote to him or came to consult him.
Among his pupils was Johann Christian Bach, Johann Sebastian’s youngest son. In 1770 the fourteen-year-old Mozart studied counterpoint with him during his stay in Bologna before being admitted to the city’s prestigious Accademia Filarmonica.
As a composer Martini left sacred music, oratorios and sonatas for keyboard or organ, in a style ranging from strict counterpoint to the lighter galant taste. His Gavotte in G has become a well-liked little study piece.