Pugnani, Gaetano

Pugnani, Gaetano – The Periodical Overture in 8 parts No. 19 (New print)

Published by Robert Bremner at the Harp and Hautboy, opposite Somerset-House, in the Strand
Issued: 20 August 1767; price 2 shillings
Source: Henry Watson Music Library – Courtesy of Manchester Libraries,
Information and Archives, Manchester City Council: BR580Pz31
Instrumentation: 2 violins, 2 violas, basso, 2 oboes, 2 horns [originally in E-flat]
Editors: Barnaby Priest & Alyson McLamore

Commentary
When Robert Bremner (c.1713–1789) chose a symphony in E-flat by Gaetano Pugnani (1731–1798) to serve as Periodical Overture No. 19, he clearly had made the decision to launch a fourth opus in his series. This “Opera Quarta” would prove to be unique, since it would be the only set in which all six works were written exclusively by Italian composers. Two were new to the series—Pugnani and Niccolò Piccinni (Piccini) (1728–1800)—while Francesco Pasquale Ricci (1732–1817) had been included four years earlier as the composer of Periodical Overture No. 2. In the case of Pugnani, it was very likely that proximity had led Bremner to include him in the series, since the virtuosic violinist had just been hired as the leader of the orchestra at the King’s Theater in London. …

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