Adagio in G minor

Adagio in G minor
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The Adagio in G minor for violin, strings and organ continuo, is a neo-Baroque composition popularly attributed to the 18th-century Venetian master Tomaso Albinoni, but composed by the 20th-century musicologist and Albinoni biographer Remo Giazotto and based on the purported discovery of a manuscript fragment from Albinoni.

Provenance
 
Although the composition is often referred to as "Albinoni's Adagio," or "Adagio in G minor by Albinoni, arranged by Giazotto," the attribution is incorrect. The ascription to Albinoni rests upon Giazotto's purported discovery of a tiny manuscript fragment (consisting of a few opening measures of the melody line and basso continuo portion) from a slow second movement of an otherwise unknown Albinoni trio sonata. According to Giazotto, he obtained the document shortly after the end of World War II from the Saxon State Library in Dresden, which − though its buildings were destroyed in the bombing raids of February and March 1945 by the British and American Air Forces − had evacuated and preserved most of its collection. Giazotto concluded that the manuscript fragment was a portion of a church sonata (sonata da chiesa, one of two standard forms of the trio sonata) in G minor composed by Albinoni, possibly as part of his Op. 4 set, around 1708. In his account, Giazotto then constructed the balance of the complete single-movement work based on this fragmentary theme. He copyrighted it and published it in 1958, under a title which, translated into English, reads "Adagio in G Minor for Strings and Organ, on Two Thematic Ideas and on a Figured Bass by Tomaso Albinoni".[1] Giazotto never produced the manuscript fragment, and since his death in 1998 no official record of its presence in the collection of the Saxon State Library has been found.[2] However, the discovery by musicologist Muska Mangano, Giazotto's last assistant, of a modern but independent manuscript transcription of the figured bass portion and six fragmentary bars of the first violin, "bearing in the top right-hand corner a stamp stating unequivocally the Dresden provenance of the original from which it was taken," provides some support for Giazotto's account that Albinoni was his source.[3] The scholarly consensus is that the Adagio is Giazotto's composition, whatever source may have inspired him.
 
The piece is most commonly orchestrated for string ensemble and organ, or string ensemble alone, but has achieved a level of fame such that it is commonly transcribed for other instruments. The Italian conductor Ino Savini (1904–1995) transcribed the Adagio for a large orchestra and conducted the piece himself in Ostrava in 1967 with the Janacek Philharmonic.
 
The composition has also permeated popular culture, having been used as background music for such films as Gallipoli, in television programmes, and in advertisements.[4]

托馬索·阿爾比諾尼
維基百科，自由的百科全書

托馬索·喬瓦尼·阿爾比諾尼（意大利語：Tomaso Giovanni Albinoni，1671年6月8日－1751年1月17日），意大利巴洛克作曲家。
 
托馬索·齊奧凡尼·阿爾比諾尼1671年出生於意大利威尼斯，是一個富裕的造紙商的長子。少年時當過歌手，而作為小提琴手他當時更出名，後來從事歌劇和樂器作曲。因為父子關係不和，1709年其父親去世前在遺囑中免除了他的財產繼承權（按意大利人的慣例，家庭財產應由長子繼承）。從此他專心致誌地為自己的愛好而作曲，並辦了一所相當成功的專門培養歌唱家的藝校。他妻子就是一位歌劇演員。阿爾比諾尼一生在威尼斯度過，但去過許多地方，並得到當地名流的款待。他創作過81部歌劇，但大多數未出版，以後手稿遺失。其樂器作曲較為幸運，出版過10集，當時深受歡迎，並多次印刷，可惜他所有的音樂手稿和印刷品在第二次世界大戰的轟炸中幾乎毀於一殆。
 
阿爾比諾尼擅長協奏曲的寫作，曾對巴赫產生重要的影響。他的主要器樂作品都已錄製成CD。

有關《G小調柔板》（Adagio in G minor）
 
1945年，萊莫·齊亞左托（Remo Giazotto），米蘭的一位音樂理論家，為了完成阿爾比諾尼的傳記和作曲總表，來到原來保存阿爾比諾尼手稿、但已被炸成廢墟的德累斯頓薩克森州立圖書館。後來齊亞左托聲稱在廢墟中發現了一些三重奏鳴曲手稿的碎片，並於1958年發表了經整理後的《G小調柔板》（Adagio in G minor）。一直以來，大家都相信齊亞左托的話，而在音樂會中演奏《G小調柔板》時，樂曲解說後麵都寫上：阿爾比諾尼作曲，齊亞左托整理。
 
可是，直至1998年齊亞左托去世後，有關碎片均未曾被發現。而圖書館方麵亦未曾有紀錄或保存過齊亞左托所提及的手稿碎片。現時更多的資料顯示，《G小調柔板》極可能隻是齊亞左托假借阿爾比諾尼的名字而寫成的原創作品。[1][2]