MARTINI, GIOVANNI BATTISTA

born April 24, 1706, Bologna, Papal States died Oct. 4, 1784, Bologna byname Padre Martini Italian composer and music theorist who was internationally renowned as a teacher. Martini was educated by his father, a violinist; by Luc'Antonio Predieri (harpsichord, singing, organ); and by Antonio Riccieri (counterpoint). He was ordained in 1722 and became chapelmaster of San Francesco in Bologna in 1725. He opened a school of music, and his fame as a teacher made Bologna a place of pilgrimage. Among his pupils were Sarti, J.C. Bach, Mozart, Gluck, Jommelli, and Grtry. Martini was a zealous collector of musical literature; his library, estimated at 17,000 volumes by the 18th-century music historian Charles Burney, passed at his death to the Imperial Library at Vienna and to the city of Bologna. He was a prolific composer of sacred and secular music. His works include the Litaniae (1734), 12 Sonate d'intavolatura (1742), 6 Sonate d'intavolatura per l'organo ed il cembalo (1747), Duetti da camera (1763), and masses and oratorios. His most important literary works are the Storia della musica (175781; incomplete) and the Saggio di contrappunto (177475).