ALBINONI

1671

LIFE: Tomaso Albinoni is born in Venice. His father, Antonio, is a wealthy paper merchant and Tomaso himself initially follows him into the trade.

TIMES: Pope Clement X canonises Rose of Lima, who helped the needy in the early 1600s. She is the first person from the Americas to be made a saint.

1722

LIFE: Albinoni makes a rare excursion away from Venice, travelling to Munich at the invitation of Max Emanuel,

Elector of Bavaria, to supervise the performances of two of his operas. TIMES: Giambattista Tiepolo paints The Martyrdom of St Bartholomew for Venice’s church of San Stae, one of a series of 12 works commissioned in the will of nobleman Andrea Stazio.

1740

LIFE: Though his operas continue to be staged, he withdraws so much from public life that a collection of his violin sonatas is mistakenly published in France as a posthumous work. TIMES: Turin’s Teatro Regio is inaugurated with a performance of Feo’s opera Arsace. The new venue seats 1,500 and has 139 boxes.

1694

LIFE: His first opera, Zenobia, regina de’palmireni, which tells of the third-century queen defeated by the Roman emperor Aurelian, is premiered at Venice’s Teatro Santi Giovanni e Paolo.

TIMES: Francesco Morosini, the Doge of Venice from 1688-94, dies aged 74. His beloved cat, who used to accompany him on all occasions – even in battle – is embalmed and kept in a Venice museum.

1705

LIFE: He marries the soprano Margherita Rimondi. Despite bearing him six children, she manages to continue her career as an opera singer, though will pre-decease him by 30 years.

TIMES: In the War of Spanish Succession, the French and Holy Roman Empire armies clash at the Battle of Cassano. The battle delays the French from besieging Turin.

1751

LIFE: After years of obscurity, Albinoni dies on 17 January in Venice, aged

79. Records from the parish of San Barnaba indicate diabetes as the cause of his death.

TIMES: Denis Diderot publishes the multi-author Encyclopédie, ou dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers, with the aim of ‘changing the way people think’.