Composer of the Week - Tomaso Giovanni Albinoni (1671-1750/51) - Episode 1

Donald Macleod explores the life and work of Venetian composer Tomas Albinoni. He examines the few known facts of Albinoni's life, most of which was spent in his native Venice. Despite the lack of biographical information, the composer is an interesting and rather anomalous figure. He became disengaged from the family playing-card business fairly early on - presumably so that he could concentrate on his music - but he continued to earn from it. As a result, his status as a composer was said to be that of a dilettante; he wrote music because he wanted to, not because he had to. Perhaps his comfortable personal circumstances explain the relaxed mood of much of his output.