Pergolesi

Giovanni Battista Pergolesi (4 January 1710 – 16 March 1736) was an Italian composer whose brief career helped bridge the late Baroque and the early Classical period. Born in Jesi, Marche, he studied and worked in Naples, producing a number of sacred and secular works. His fame rests chiefly on two pieces that became touchstones of European music: the intermezzo La Serva Padrona (The Servant Turned Mistress) of 1733 and the Stabat Mater of 1736. He died in Pozzuoli near Naples at the age of 26.

La Serva Padrona, in three scenes, became a defining example of the Italian opera buffa genre and helped popularize simplified, melodically direct arias and clear dramatic action. Its success contributed to the wider 18th-century European debate about the merits of serious opera versus comic forms, notably in Paris’s Querelle des Bouffons. Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater, composed shortly before his death, is celebrated for its poignant melodies and economical textures, a hallmark of his concise musical language.

Pergolesi’s music is characterized by lyrical vocal lines, expressive recitatives, and a balance between melodic charm and dramatic clarity. Although his career was short, his works influenced the Neapolitan school and the evolution toward the classical style. His music remained popular in the 18th and 19th centuries and continues to be performed and recorded.