Giovanni Battista Mele
Biography
Giovanni Battista Mele, also known in the Spanish version Juan Bautista Melle (Naples, 1693 or 1694 or 1701 [1] - perhaps there, after 1752), was an Italian composer, active in Spain.
He received his musical training at the Conservatory of the Poor of Jesus Christ in Naples , where he was admitted on 25 November 1710; here he remained for 10 to 12 years and studied under the guidance of Gaetano Greco . Later he was a pupil of Leonardo Vinci and in 1735 he went to Madrid , where he was active as an opera composer together with Francesco Corradini and Francesco Corselli in the local theaters. His first work was a Spanish translation and adaptation of Pietro Metastasio 's Demetrius , which was performed at the Teatro de la Cruz. He also came into contact with the royal court ofPhilip V , for which in 1744 he composed two Italian serenades. In 1746, the year in which Ferdinand VI succeeded the previous one as heir to the throne, Mele thanks to Farinelli entered the Spanish royal court, where he became a court opera composer and director of the Nuovo Real Teatro in the Palazzo del Buon Ritiro . In early 1747 he collaborated with Corselli and Corradini to set to music during the Carnival a Spanish adaptation of the metastasian drama La clemenza di Tito produced by Luzàn y Suelves. On 4 December of the same year Mele performed his first independently created work, Angélica y Medoro , at the Buen Retiroand in 1750 he concluded his opera career with the serious opera Armida placata , performed on the occasion of the wedding festivities of the Infante Maria Antonia and which saw the participation of Farinelli among the singers.
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Mele's music has an affinity with the compositional style of Francesco Feo and with that of the younger Domingo Terradellas , but at the same time retains its own characteristics. His few surviving compositions stand out for their brilliant vocal writing, rhythmic vitality, delicate coloring and their playful character; they also show a pre - classical tendency , as can be seen in the instrumental introduction of his Serenade for the restored health of His Majesty in 1744, where the bass Albertine is used. His works are also very rich in ornamental figurations and motif repetitions and present a very unusual and inventive orchestration.
Biography text from Last.fm, available under CC BY-SA.