Giovanni Battista Pergolesi

Pergolesi didn’t get the chance to write much before his death at the age of 26—and by the time everyone realised how good he was, it was too late. The huge posthumous demand for his music led to a deluge of forgeries: of the 148 pieces published in the first complete Pergolesi edition, only about 30 are now thought genuine. Born in Jesi in 1710, he studied and worked in Naples, writing six full-length operas, a little church music and a handful of cantatas and instrumental pieces. Two works kept his name alive and influenced the course of European music. La Serva Padrona (1733) was a comic miniature in a new lightweight style that turned operatic conventions on their head. The Stabat Mater (1736) is also controversially light and melodious, making its medieval text seem less sacred and more approachable. Music by or attributed to Pergolesi provided Stravinsky with the raw material for his ballet Pulcinella (1920).