Domenico Alberti

Domenico Alberti (c. 1710 in Venice, † October 14, 1740 in Rome ) was an Italian singer and composer of the late Baroque. According to him, the Alberti bass was named.

Life and work

Domenico Alberti studied under Antonio Lotti. He wrote several serenades by libretti by Metastasio, several arias and around 36 Sonatas for Harpsichord, of which 14 have survived. He most used named after him Alberti bass, a repetition of arpeggios, in which the individual notes of the chords are not simultaneously, but in succession in the order " deepest, highest, middle, highest tone " sounded in his sonatas.

Nowadays Alberti is classified as relatively insignificant, its notoriety he does not owe his rarely performed works, but the Alberti bass, which was picked up by many composers and has become an important element of classical music.

During his lifetime, Domenico Alberti was known primarily as a singer accompanying himself often even on the harpsichord. He was in 1736 the Venetian ambassador to Spain, when he with his singing impressed the famous castrato Farinelli, although he was an amateur.