A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Besozzi

BESOZZI, an Italian family of distinguished wind-instrument players, (1) Alessandro, a very remarkable oboist; born at Parma in 1700, and died in the service of the King of Sardinia, at Turin, 1775. (2) His brother, Antonio, also a celebrated oboist; born at Parma 1707, and afterwards resided at Dresden. On the death of Alessandro he took his post at Turin, and died there in 1781. (3) Antonio's son Carlo, born at Dresden 1745, was also a renowned oboist. It is he, according to Fétis, whom Burney heard at Dresden, and of whom (ii. 27, 45) he gives so detailed and favourable an account, comparing him with Fischer. (4) A third brother, Hieronimo, a famous bassoon player, born at Parma 1713, was the special associate of Alessandro. Burney's account of the two brothers, and his criticism on their remarkable duet performances, will always be read with interest (Present State, iii. 69). He died at Turin shortly after the death of Antonio. (5) Gaetano, the youngest of the four brothers, born at Parma 1727, also an oboist, first at the Neapolitan and then at the French court, and lastly in London in 1793, where, notwithstanding his age, he was much admired for the certainty of his playing and its exquisite finish. (6) His son, Hieronimo, played the same instrument as his father; Burney (iii. 24) heard him at the Concert Spirituel at Paris in 1770. He died in Paris as early as 1785, leaving however (7) a son [App. p.545 "Henri"] who was flautist at the Opéra Comique. (8) His son, Louis Désiré, born at Versailles April 3, 1814, carried off many prizes of the Conservatoire, and in 1837 the Grand Prix de Rome [App. p.545 "died Nov. 11, 1879"].

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