JOMMELLI, NICCOL

born Sept. 10, 1714, Aversa, Kingdom of Naples died Aug. 25, 1774, Naples composer of religious music and operas. Jomelli produced his first opera in Naples in 1737 (L'Errore amoroso) and Odoardo in 1738. Jommelli went to Rome in 1740 and produced two new operas there. He went on to Bologna and Vienna (1749) and in 1753 became kapellmeister to the duke of Wrtemberg at Stuttgart. There he wrote his best operas, including L'Olimpiade and Fetonte (first performed 1768), in which he introduced a free use of accompanied recitative and broke with the tradition of the da capo aria, thus anticipating Gluck. Indeed, he became known as the Italian Gluck. His last composition was a Miserere for two voices, finished just before his death and for long his best known work. The style of his overtures influenced the early symphonies of Johann Stamitz.