Lorenzo Gibelli

Lorenzo Gibelli, also known as “Gibellone,” was an Italian composer, singer and influential singing teacher. Born in Bologna on 24 November 1718, he first trained in the choirs of the city’s major churches, where his unusual vocal abilities attracted notice, and later studied music with Giovanni Battista Martini. His voice ranged from bass to low tenor, but his career as an opera singer was modest. He became highly regarded as a teacher; his pupils included the castrati Girolamo Crescentini and Francesco Roncaglia and the tenor Matteo Babbini.

Gibelli was elected to the Bologna Philharmonic Academy in 1741 and served as its Prince from 1753. He held chapel-master posts at several churches in Bologna, including the Church of the Most Holy Savior. As a composition student of Martini, he combined the strict Roman counterpoint tradition with the 18th-century pursuit of rational simplicity and galant clarity. His output included five operas, five oratorios and more than 400 sacred works, many of which have not survived; only the librettos remain for the oratorios.

His stage works included the intermezzo Coral and Rosetta, written with Giuseppe Pignatelli and first performed in Sassuolo in autumn 1740; the pasticcios Diomeda, performed in San Giovanni in Persiceto in 1741, and The Weddings of Aeneas, performed in Bologna in 1744 and in Cesena in 1747; Evergete, performed in Venice in 1748; Demetrio, performed in Alessandria in 1751; and the intermezzo The Philosopher Anselmo and Lesbina. His oratorios included David in Terrebinto (1744), Jonathan Son of Saul (1752), Joseph Recognized (1762), The Passion of the Lord (1763) and The Passion and Death of Jesus Christ (1785). Other works included a cantata from 1761, a mass and settings of several liturgical texts. He also wrote vocal exercises for bass and tenor with basso continuo.

Gibelli died in Bologna on 5 November 1812. His life and work were later documented in Carlo Pancaldi’s 1830 biography, Life of Lorenzo Gibelli, Celebrated Contrapuntist and Singer.