Bonifacio Asioli

Bonuses Asioli ( born August 30, 1769 in Correggio, † May 18, 1832 ) was an Italian music theorist, music educator, harpsichordist, conductor and composer.

Life and work

Bonuses Asioli came from a distinguished family and was already in his early youth his great musical talent. He has performed at the age of 12 years as an improviser and composed as a teenager many also extensive works. In 1782, he stayed to study in Bologna and Venice and was promoted after returning to his hometown to the city's Kapellmeister. The following year he moved to Turin, where he also served as Kapellmeister. After a professional stopover in Venice in 1799, he took over the position of royal Kapellmeister in Milan, where he was successfully established as a composer, teacher at the Conservatory from 1807 to 1814 and music theorist working. He then returned to Correggio and was active as a teacher, composer and author until his death on. He counted in his time the best known and most respected musicians of Italy and maintained friendly relations among other things, Johann Simon Mayr and Joseph Haydn. Among his pupils was also Mozart's son Carl Thomas.

Asiolo was a versatile and prolific composer. He created sacred and secular works of almost all genres. He was famous for tonal beauty and balance of his music and showed with this expressive way of composing clear his stylistic position in the transition to the beginning of the musical romanticism. Their rise brought about, however, that his work soon fell into obscurity after his death, as the author of important music theory and pedagogical writings, its meaning has retained.