Giuseppe Antonio Brescianello

Giuseppe Antonio Brescianello (also Bressonelli; ca. 1690, Bologna, Papal States – 4 October 1758, Stuttgart, Duchy of Württemberg) was an Italian Baroque composer and violinist. Brescianello’s name is mentioned for the first time in a document from 1715 in which Maximilian II Emanuel, Elector of Bavaria conferred on him an appointment as violinist in the court orchestra in Munich. Soon after, in 1716, following the death of Johann Christoph Pez, he was given a post at the court in Stuttgart of Eberhard Ludwig, Duke of Württemberg, as director of music and maître des concerts de la chambre. In 1717, he was appointed Hofkapellmeister. Around 1718, he composed the pastorale opera La Tisbe, which he dedicated to the Archduke in the vain hope that it would be programmed at the Stuttgart theatre. Between 1719 and 1721, Brescianello came into conflict with the composer Reinhard Keiser, who launched repeated attempts to seize his post. He held out and in 1731 was even granted the more senior title of Oberkapellmeister. He temporarily lost the post in 1737, when the court opera was disbanded due to financial troubles. In the following years, he concentrated on composition and produced his