Giuseppe Bonno

Who was Giuseppe Bonno?

Giuseppe Bonno was an Austrian composer of Italian origin.

The son of a footman from Brescia who served at the Austrian court, he was born in Vienna and studied music with Johann Georg Reinhardt, imperial court organist, later Kapellmeister of St Stephen's. A gifted pupil, he was then sent to Naples in 1726 where he studied church music under Francesco Durante and opera under Leonardo Leo. He moved back to Vienna in 1736, becoming a court composer there, and working as Kapellmeister to the Prince of Saxe-Hildburghausen in the 1750s and 1760s. He died in Vienna.

Bonno's works are rarely heard today, but he was a prominent figure in Viennese musical life in his day and his works were often performed. He worked with two main librettists: Giovanni Claudio Pasquini and Metastasio. The latter was Bonno's contemporary in Vienna, and the composer wrote the first music for Metastasio's Il natale di Giove, Il vero omaggio, Il re pastore, L'eroe cinese, L'isola disabitata and L'Atenaide ovvero Gli affetti più generosi.