Giuseppe Gazzaniga

Giuseppe Gazzaniga ( October 5, 1743 Verona, † February 1, 1818 in Crema ) was an Italian opera composer.

Gazzaniga was supposed to be a priest, but studied music at the Conservatorio di Venice and a Porta Capuana Onofrio in Naples. In Naples, he was a pupil of Niccolo Piccinni. From 1791 until his death he was director of music at the Cathedral of Crema. Gazzaniga also composed instrumental music and church music, which is still preserved in manuscript to a large extent ( in the State Archives in Verona and Bologna at the Civico Museo bibliografico musicale GB Martini).

His biggest success was the opera Don Giovanni o sia Il Convitato di Pietra (premiered on February 5, 1787 in Venice), which drafted by Giovanni Lorenzo da Ponte Bertati text served as a direct model for his libretto for Mozart's Don Giovanni. Gazzaniga's opera was performed in 1789 in Corfu, 1791 in Paris, 1792 in Lisbon and in 1796 in Madrid.