Giacometti, Giovanni Battista

views updated

Giacometti, Giovanni Battista

Giacometti, Giovanni Battista, Italian instrumentalist whose fame gained him the name del Violino;b. Brescia, c. 1550; d. after 1603. He gained distinction as a lutenist, violist, and harpist in Rome. In 1586 he entered the service of the Gonzaga court in Mantua. Following sojourns to Florence (1589) and the Papal Chapel in Rome (1591), he was active at the Medici court in Florence. He excelled as a performer on the viola da gamba, harp, and violin.

—Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire

More From encyclopedia.com