Francesco Gasparini

He wrote the first opera using the story of Hamlet (Ambleto, 1705) though this was not based on Shakespeare's play.

Gasparini was also a teacher, the instructor of Marcello, Quantz and Domenico Scarlatti.

He was musical director of the Ospedale della Pietà, where he employed Antonio Vivaldi as a violin master.

Gasparini's works were performed throughout Italy, and also on occasion in Germany and England.

Gasparini's Missa Canonica was known to Johann Sebastian Bach, who, in 1740, copied it out and—after adding parts for strings, oboes, cornett, trombone, and organ—performed its Kyrie and Gloria in both the St. Thomas Church, Leipzig and St. Nicholas Church, Leipzig.