Gasparini, Quirino 10/24/1721 - 09/30/1778

Quirino Gasparini (1721-1778) was born in Gandino, near Bergamo, in the Lombardy region of Italy. Though he became a priest, he also studied composition and was an outstanding cellist. He traveled throughout Italy, worked for a long time in Venice and Bologna, and eventually settled in Turin, where he became Maestro di cappella at the cathedral. He composed several operas, eleven masses, three requiems and other sacred works, but only his Stabat Mater was published during his lifetime. He died in Turin in 1778. Mozart wrote down his "Adoramus te, Christe" after hearing it (only once! as legend has it) and disseminated it beyond the relatively narrow sphere of activity of it composer.