ArtistInfo

Francesco Bartolomeo Conti

1700-1732 FR, Florence
Composer of Classical

Francesco Bartolomeo Conti (20 January 1681 or 1682 – July 1732) was an Italian composer and player of the mandolin and theorbo. He also wrote the oldest mandolin method book that has survived.Little is known about the biography of Conti. He was born in Florence, Italy. By 1700 he was already known as a theorbist not only in his native Florence, but also in other cities such as Ferrara and Milan. The fame he enjoyed by 1701 enabled him to obtain appointment as an auxiliary theorbist at the Habsburg court in Vienna with the same salary as the main theorbist, Orazio Clementi. At the 1706 carnival he made his debut as an opera composer with Cleotide, and in 1713 was appointed as a court composer. In 1708, with the death of Clementi, Conti was promoted senior theorbist, a position he held unti