Early years Bononcini was born in
Modena,
Duchy of Modena and Reggio, the oldest of three sons. His father,
Giovanni Maria Bononcini, was a
violinist and a composer, and his younger brother,
Antonio Maria Bononcini, was also a composer. An orphan from the age of 8, Giovanni Battista studied in the music school of
Giovanni Paolo Colonna at
San Petronio Basilica in Bologna (perhaps in 1680 or 1681). In 1685, at the age of 15, he published three collections of instrumental works (in two of which he gave his age as 13).
Final years After leaving London in 1733, Bononcini travelled to France in the company of an adventurer, Count Ughi, who swindled him out of most of his property. In Paris, Bononcini gave concerts of his religious music at the
Concert Spirituel and then moved on to Lisbon to become the cello teacher to the Portuguese king. In 1736 he returned to Vienna, where his opera
Alessandro in Sidone and his oratorio
Ezechia were performed in 1737. In dire financial straits by 1742, he petitioned
Maria Theresa of Austria for help. In October of that year, she granted him a pension of 50
florins a month in recognition of his past service to the court. Bononcini died on 9 July 1747, allegedly in Vienna, impoverished and largely forgotten. After his death, his last major composition, a
Te Deum which he had composed in 1741 for
Francis I, was performed in celebration of the
Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle. ==Compositions==