Tomaso Albinoni

Tomaso Giovanni Albinoni (June 8, 1671, Venice, Italy – January 17, 1751, Venice) was an Italian baroque composer. While famous in his day as an opera composer, he is mainly remembered today for his instrumental music, some of which

Tomaso Giovanni Albinoni (June 8, 1671, Venice, Italy – January 17, 1751, Venice) was an Italian baroque composer. While famous in his day as an opera composer, he is mainly remembered today for his instrumental music, some of which is regularly recorded. His "Adagio in G minor", actually a later reconstruction, is one of the most frequently recorded pieces of Baroque music.

Born to Antonio Albinoni (1634–1709), a wealthy paper merchant and nobleman in Venice, he studied violin and singing. Relatively little is known about his life, especially considering his contemporary stature as a composer, and the comparatively well-documented period in which he lived. In 1694 he dedicated his Opus 1 to the fellow-Venetian Pietro, Cardinal Ottoboni (grand-nephew of Pope Alexander VIII); Ottoboni was an important patron in Rome of other composers, such as Arcangelo Corelli. Albinoni was employed in 1700 as a violinist to the Fernando Carlo, Duke of Mantua, to whom he dedicated his Opus 2 collection of instrumental pieces. In 1701 he wrote his hugely popular suites Opus 3, and dedicated that collection to Grand Duke Ferdinand III of Tuscany.