Antonella D’Ovidio

Young Francesco Gasparini and the Grand Prince, Ferdinando de’ Medici. A testimony from their letters.

Abstract

This article hosts two unissued letters from Francesco Gasparini’s early years, currently sitting at the Florence State Archive—the one he sent in 1692 to Grand Prince Ferdinando de’ Medici, together with the gift of his oratorio, Athalia, and the latter’s response. Both letters, along with some considerations on Gasparini’s operatic debut in Leghorn, allow us to speculate on young Gasparini’s relationship with the Medici court.