GALLUPPI, BALDASSARRE, known as BURANELLO. – Musician, born at Burano on 18 Oct. 1706 and died at Venice on 3 Jan. 1785. A pupil of Lotti, he was one of the most prolific and celebrated opera composers of his time.
At Venice he was choirmaster at S. Marco and later (1762) teacher at the Conservatory of the Incurabili; in Russia (1765), as chapel master at the court of Catherine II, he received triumphal honours and was the first Westerner to compose for the Russian liturgy. From 1768, having returned to Venice, he composed chiefly church music, whereas from 1722 he had written no fewer than 110 theatrical works. In a noble “concertato” style, he wrote 20 oratorios, the cantata Il trionfo di Tobia (Venice, 1783, for the arrival of Pius VI); masses, litanies, hymns, sequences (among them the famous “Victimace paschali” for four voices, performed until quite recently at S. Marco), as well as arias, symphonies, concertos, and chamber music.
He distinguished himself by his airy and cheerful melody, which earned him the name of “father of opera buffa.”
BIBLI: A. Wotquenne, B. G., in Riv. mus. it., 6 (1899), pp. 261-70; E. Piovano, B. G. Note bio-bibliografiche, ibid., 13 (1900), pp. 676-726; 14 (1907), pp. 333-63; 15 (1908), pp. 233-274; F. Torrefranca, Le sonate per simbolo del Baronello, ibid., 18 (1911), pp. 276-307 and 497-536; 19 (1912), pp. 108-40; Ch. Van den Boren, Contribution au Catalogue thématique des Sonates de G., ibid., 20 (1923), pp. 265-70. Anna Maria Gentili