Giuseppe Sammartini (der Ältere)

Giuseppe Sammartini was born in Milan in 1695 and died in London in 1750, he is the so-called “London Sammartini”. His younger brother Giovanni Battista, who was born around 1700 in Milan and died there in 1775, is known as the “Milanese Sammartini”. In the old sheet music there are numerous variants of the names of these highly respected Italian musicians from Saint Martin to S. Martini to San Martino.
Giuseppe was an oboist and composer and went to London around 1728. As an oboe soloist he played under Handel’s direction in the “Kings Theater”. He became the music teacher of the Prince of Wales, the son of King George II. It can be assumed that, in addition to the oboe, he also played other woodwind instruments such as recorder and transverse flute, because he composed numerous works for these instruments. In London he published 6 sonatas for flute or 2 flutes and basso continuo as opera prima. This first opus was followed by vocal and stage works, numerous chamber music works, which are always provided with information on different instrument choices.