Francesco Gasparini
1668 - 1721Possibly a student of Legrenzi, Gasparini joined the Accademia S. Cecilia, Rome, in 1689 where he could have studied with Corelli and Pasquini as well. Named maestro di coro at the Ospedale Della Pietà, Venice, in 1701; he composed operas for Venice at the rate of several per year, while his important thoroughbass manual L'armonico pratico al cimbalo appeared there in 1709.
Gasparini left Venice in 1713 and eventually became maestro di cappella at S. Lorenzo in Lucina, Rome. In addition to over sixty operas, he cultivated other secular and sacred vocal genres and was an influential teacher, counting Marcello, Quantz, and Domenico Scarlatti among his pupils.