Emanuele Barbella

Sonata in G Major

The series Italian music of the Baroque period for mandolin is intended to introduce Italian masters of the 18th century whose works have not been published for a long time. For this series, harpsichord player and leader of the Ensemble Baroque in Turin, Lino Totaro, discovered and selected pieces with a lively expression and inventive ideas. Emanuele Barbella (1718 - 1777) descended from a family of musicians in Naples. He became popular above all as a violin player. His compositions comprise works for strings, flute, organ and various pieces for mandolin. As a result of his friendship with the English musicologist Charles Burney, who had quite often mentioned Barbella's virtuoso qualities as well as his kindness, a lot of Barbella's works were published in England and France.