By Michael Talbot

I first came across Francesco Barsanti (ca. 1690–1775) in the early 1960s, when I bought an LP of French horn concertos. I gave him little thought over the next five decades, when my research focused on Albinoni and Vivaldi. But my interest was rekindled when, following my retirement, I began to direct my attention also to music composed in eighteenth-century Britain by Italian immigrants. Barsanti, who lived for most of his working life in England and Scotland, was an ideal composer and musical personality to investigate; he not only integrated himself well into British musical life but also contributed something truly individual to it. His secular vocal music output encompasses four very different genres: the chamber cantata, the Italian madrigal, the French air, and the English catch.

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