Biography

Luigi Gianella
He was probably born in Milan in about 1778. Dedicated to the study of the flute, he entered the orchestra of the Teatro alla Scala in Milan in 1790, where he remained for about a decade. Alongside the orchestral activity, Gianella devoted herself to composing, producing two ballets for La Scala (Money does everything and Idante and Asseli, August 1790), both lost. In 1800, he tried his luck moving to Paris; here, in addition to performing as a virtuoso of his instrument, he collaborated with various local orchestras, including that of the Opéra-Comique in the theater of rue de la Victoire. During his stay in Paris he also actively dedicated himself to the composition. The only operatic commitment was born from the collaboration with Charles-François Dumonchau for the creation of the work in one deed L'officier cosaque (Paris, théâtre de la Porte de Saint-Martin, 8 April 1803), on the text of Cuvelier and Barouillet . Gianella was, however, mainly renowned as a soloist and composer of flute music: as a testimony to this, in addition to the most famous concerts with orchestra, there is the extensive chamber music production, in which the role of the flute, to which most of the its production, is exploited in all virtuosistic possibilities. He died in Paris around 1817.