Overture to 'La notte critica'

Like many of Vienna’s most prominent musicians, Florian Leopold Gassmann (1729-1774) was a Bohemian by birth. Comparatively little is known about his early life and training although he was well enough established in Italy as a composer to secure a commission to compose his first opera, Merope, for the Teatro S Moisè, Venice, in the Carnival season of 1757. The work was a success and Gassmann composed a new opera annually for the next five years. His third opera, Gli uccelatori, was the first of his many settings of libretti by Carlo Goldoni. In 1763 he succeeded Gluck (as ballet composer) in Vienna and in 1772 succeeded Georg Reutter the Younger as Hofkapellmeister. His premature death in 1774 as a result of a fall from a carriage was regretted by many, including Joseph II who admired his music very much. Gassmann’s setting of Goldoni’s La notte critica (The Critical Night) was given its Viennese premiere at the Burgtheater on 5 January 1768. The opera enjoyed considerable success and the overture was advertised for sale in the Breitkopf Catalogue (Supplement VIII 1773) and also found its way into the Göttweig and Quartbuch catalogues. Gassmann’s elegance and skill as a composer of theatrical music is evident at every turn in this sparkling overture.