Carcani, Giuseppe: La concordia del Tempo colla Fama Venezia, Ospedale degli Incurabili, 28 marzo 1740

Composer(s)

Giuseppe Carcani: (b Crema, 1703; d Piacenza, end of Jan 1779). Italian composer, conductor and organist. He succeeded Hasse in 1739 as maestro di cappella of the Ospedale degli Incurabili in Venice, and on 4 September 1744 succeeded G.B. Benzoni as maestro di cappella of Piacenza Cathedral, where he remained until his death. From 1744 to 1760 he also directed the Cappella di S Giovanni in Piacenza, again as Benzoni’s successor, and became a leading light at the Bourbon court of the dukes of Piacenza and Parma, presiding over their musical functions, both official and private. He was disliked, however, by the first minister, G. du Tillot, who in 1760 ordered Carcani to relinquish to his son Giacomo the post he had held since 1745 as musical director of the Congregazione di S Alessandro in Piacenza. In a letter dated 15 June 1768 Hasse expressed the wish that Carcani return to the Incurabili.

Although famous in his day, and praised on occasion by Carpani and Caffi among others, Carcani does not now appear to have possessed strikingly individual gifts, following the general tastes and style of his period. His instrumental music inclines towards the Milan school and reflects the transition from the Baroque style to the new sensibility, displaying certain pleasing ideas and technical ability. His operatic arias and duets follow obsequiously the style of Hasse’s without possessing their purely musical gifts.