Andrea Bernasconi

Andrea Bernasconi was an Italian composer, active chiefly in Munich, whose output belongs to the tradition of the Neapolitan opera seria. Early sources place his birth in 1712, although some references doubtfully date it to around 1706 in Marseille, where he probably was born to a French military father who, after retiring from the army, settled in Parma. Very little is known of his training. The librettos of his first operas describe him alternately as a Milanese amateur and as a native of Verona, which reflects the uncertainty surrounding his origins.

Between 1744 and 1753 he held the post of maestro di cappella at the Ospedale della Pietà in Venice, the city in which he premiered a good part of his operas and oratorios of the 1740s. In 1747 he married Maria Josepha Wagele in Parma, and he took charge of the musical education of her daughter Antonia, who went on to a successful career as a singer. In 1753 he was engaged as assistant Kapellmeister for vocal music in Munich, coinciding with the opening of the Residenztheater. Shortly afterwards he received the title of electoral councillor and, in 1754, began teaching music to the princesses of the court and to Maximilian III Joseph himself. Following the death of Giovanni Porta, he was appointed Kapellmeister in September 1755. In 1778 the Elector Charles Theodore confirmed his post, although he probably no longer performed any effective duties. He was succeeded by Paul Grua in 1784, the year of his death in Munich.

As a composer, Bernasconi was a conservative representative of the Neapolitan opera seria, with no intention of reforming it. His arias follow in essence the modified da capo form, with ornamented melodic writing, while his recitatives are notable for a fluent and vocally elegant declamation. In his later operas he made effective use of the accompanied recitative. It is recorded that the soprano Faustina Bordoni, wife of Hasse, admired his operas. His stage works, some of them revisions of earlier titles, enjoyed great popularity in Munich. After 1772 he devoted himself almost entirely to sacred music. A large part of his sacred output, including 34 masses, has been lost, so that his legacy survives today only in fragmentary form.