Giuseppe Cambini

Unconfirmed information

Information about his life is scarcely traceable. Louis-Gabriel Michaud, French scholar and François-Joseph Fétis, Belgian musicologist drafted his biography, and Cambini himself speaks about his past in an article published in Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung in 1804. However, all of these documents are full of errors and, therefore, need to be verified. It is not possible to confirm his personal data (only Fétis indicates his date of birth), nor his first studies. It is possible he is connected in some way to father Giovanni Battista Martini, and, more possibly to Filippo Manfredi, who was almost certainly his violin teacher. Fétis wrote about his unfortunate operatic debut in Naples in 1766, after which, during his return to Livorno by the sea, was kidnapped by pirates, who treated him terribly until his liberation by a Venetian aristocrat. The narration by the Belgian holds much resemblance to a story in the poetic periodical Correspondance littéraire, philosophique et critique, a fact that deteriorates its reliability. In the article found in Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung in 1804, Cambini claims to have played the viola in a string quartet with Luigi Boccherini, Pietro Nardini and his teacher Manfredi for six months in 1767. If what he says is true, this quartet would represent the first formation of this emerging genre in Italy, if not in all of Europe. For many years, this information fostered a gigantic legend about the importance of the role of Cambini in defining the string quartet. Actually, he was one of the many (even if one of the most prolific) who, in the same period, contributed to the development of the genre.

First years in Paris

The first information that we have that is certain is his arrival in Paris at the beginning of the 1770s, where he remained for 20 years, and composed oratorios, concert compositions, as well as chamber, symphonic, and theatrical compositions (there are almost 14 operas, of which at least 12 were performed in Paris. In addition, there are some ballets that aroused the admiration of Christoph Willibald Gluck), and he performed his violin concertos (during the Concert Spirituel and the Concerts des Amateurs, managed by François-Joseph Gossec). More than 600 compositions were published with his name in the French capital until 1800 (above all by the Venier, Berault and Sieber publishers, see also the section Sources), of which more than 80 are symphonies concertante (he wrote more of these than any other French composer of the time, becoming a champion of the genre).

Polemic with Mozart

His success in composing for the sinfonia concertante genre inspired the rivalry of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, who in 1778 accused Cambini of having obstructed the performance of his symphony KV 297b at the Concert Spirituel, because Cambini was jealous of its perfection. The skepticism with regard to Cambini is not observed from any other composer that dealt with him. Conversely, Gluck, in the same years, often recommended him as an upstanding and honest man. Therefore, it is probable that the Salisburg expressed exaggerated feelings toward Cambini.

Alternating Parisian fame

The accusation by Mozart is not especially valid partially because of the fact that the power of Cambini in Paris didn’t reach the level that Mozart claimed. In fact, the musical press paid less than gratifying attention to his vast production. He was cited relatively few times in the contemporary critiques, and his career, as a violinist, is less appreciated than other contemporary soloist of the time. His greatest successes, as aforementioned, were the sinfonie concertanti and his quartets, which even Mozart praised. His easy style, attractive and brilliant, open only just enough to innovation, rendered him a sort of protector of the galant Parisian style, and many of his pieces were favorable accepted in London as well as in America (some actively participated in defining of the so-called forma sonata), but his theatrical works, operas, were almost always torn to shreds. Moreover, from 1785 it was affirmed in France of the more complex Viennese style, to which he tried to awkwardly join, undermining his fame, and damaging his reputation in the press of the German area.

The Revolution

In 1788, he became manager of Théâtre Beaujolais, and he worked there during the revolutionary turmoil until 1791. His endurance permitted continuity of a high-quality operatic offering even in the years of the Republic. During the time of Terror, beginning in 1791, he directed Théâtre Louvois, which due to the economic crisis caused by the war was forced to close in 1794. The crisis affected many, as well as the estate of Cambini, and it constricted him to find very different work opportunities. Beginning in 1794, he accepted a salary from the gunsmith Armand Séguin, for whom he gave private concerts and composed more than 100 quartets. He composed revolutionary and patriotic anthems for the newborn Republic. He taught violin, voice and composition privately. In addition, he transcribed opera arias of other authors for any buyer. He accepted editorial commissions (in 1795, the editor Gavreaux asked him to attend to the reprinting of methods for violin by Geminiani, and in 1799 Nademann and Lobry hired him to edit one for flute).

Oblivion

At the beginning of the 1800s, Cambini signed contracts with periodicals and magazines, including Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung and Tablettes de Polymne, which published his articles until 1811. From that moment, Cambini disappears without leaving any trace in any documents. Michaud affirms that he died in Holland in 1818, information that satisfies scholars and has a certain amount of credibility, while Fétis recounts his painful and tragic admission to a mental hospital in Bicêtre, where he was found dead in 1825.

Operas

Doubted attribution

Sacred music

Anthems and revolutionary songs

Instrumental music

Articles

Recordings

Around 1936, the Quartet of Rome (Francesco Montelli and Oscar Zuccarini, violins; Aldo Perini, viola; Luigi Silva, violoncello), recorded Quartetto in Re maggiore by Cambini adapted by Fausto Torrefranca. The 78 rpm disc of the first publication are preserved at the Istituto centrale per i beni sonori e audiovisivi di Roma, and are digitalized on Internet Culturale.

Media

The following musical examples were performed by the Soni Ventorum Wind Quintet in 1970.

Trois Quintetti Concertans ("Three Wind Quintets", c.1802)