Rastrelli, Joseph
Rastrelli, Joseph
Rastrelli, Joseph , Italian conductor and composer, son of Vincenzo Rastrelli; b. Dresden, April 13, 1799; d. there, Nov. 15, 1842. He began his training with his father, and appeared in public as a violinist in Moscow in 1805. After further studies in Dresden with Fiedler, his father took him to Italy in 1814, where he received training in counterpoint in Bologna from Padre Mattei. He returned to Dresden in 1817 and scored his first success as a composer with his opera La schiava circassa, which was premiered at the Court Theater on Feb. 26, 1820. In 1820 he entered the court service as a violinist. He was made deputy music director of the Court Theater in 1829, and in 1830 he was named royal maestro di cappella, sharing his duties with Morlacchi and Reissiger.
Works
DRAMATIC (all first perf. in Dresden unless otherwise given): La distruzione di Gerusalemme (Ancona, 1816); La schiava circassa, ossia Imene e Virtù; (Feb. 26, 1820); Le donne curiose (April 14, 1821); Velleda, ossia II paladino mutalo (Jan. 15, 1823); Amina, ovvero L’innocenza perseguitata (Milan, March 16, 1824); Salvator Rosa, oder Zwey Nächte in Rom (July 22, 1832); Bertha von Bretagne (Sept. 12, 1835); Die Neuvermählten (March 10, 1839); Il trionfo di Nabucco il Grande, ossia Punizione di Sedacia (n.d.). OTHER : Viola Concerto; sacred music; choruses; songs.
—Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire