Pietro Domenico Paradies
Pietro Domenico Paradisi Paradies (originally named Paradisi), Pietro Domenico was an Italian composer and Harpsichordist born in Naples 1707 (died Venice 1791).
Pietro Domenico Paradisi Paradies (originally named Paradisi), Pietro Domenico was an Italian composer and harpsichordist born in Naples 1707 and died in Venice in 1791.
He was a pupil of Porpora, in which time he brought out several operas in Italy. In 1747 went to London, where he earned a living mainly as a teacher of harpsichord playing. He also produced several operas including Fetonte (17 January 1747) which music critic Charles Burney described as "ill-phrased" and lacking in "estro or grace". The 12 Sonate di gravicembalo, by contrast, were excellent works, first published in London by John Johnson in 1754. They were often more progressive than those of the more famous Scarlatti.
Towards the the end of his life, Paradies returned to Italy. Some of his manuscript works are preserved in the Fitzwilliam Museum at Cambridge, and his sonatas were brought out by G. Benvenuti and D. Cipollini in Milan (1920).
Compositions by Pietro Domenico Paradies appear on
The Convict Harpsichordist
John Grant, frustrated in love, shot a London lawyer in the buttock and was sentenced to death at the Old Bailey. Granted a reprieve, he arrived at Sydney Cove in 1804, bringing with him Australia's first harpsichord. But what music did he play? Harpsichordist Elizabeth Anderson answers the question.
