1725–1785 · Baroque
Giovanni Battista Gervasio was born in Naples around 1725 and died around 1785. An Italian mandolinist and composer, he belonged to the first generation of virtuoso mandolinists who left Italy to play across Europe in the eighteenth century. He performed in London, Frankfurt am Main and Paris, where he published a method for the four-string instrument. His mandolin works survive today in eighteenth-century collections, including the Gimo collection and the holdings of the Bibliothèque Nationale de France.
Giovanni Battista Gervasio was born in Naples around 1725. He belonged to the first generation of virtuoso mandolinists who left Italy and performed on the mandolin across Europe in the eighteenth century. Gervasio composed music for the mandolin: his works survive scattered across music collections of the period, among them the Gimo collection and the holdings of the Bibliothèque Nationale de France.
In 1767 Gervasio brought out, in Paris, a tutor for the four-string instrument, titled Methode facile pour apprendre a quatre cordes, meant for lady players. He appeared in London in 1768, performed in Frankfurt am Main on 10 December 1777, and played the Concert Spirituel in the French capital on 24 December 1784. In 1785 he advertised himself as master of singing and of the mandolin to the Princess of Prussia; a piece he dedicated to her is kept today at the Bibliothèque Nationale de France.
In 1785 Gervasio advertised lessons in Grenoble. It is the last known notice of him, and it is thought that he stayed on there and died in that city.
The site holds seven Gervasio editions: five sonatas for mandolin and bass (Gimo 141, 142, 144, 145 and 149), a duet for two mandolins (Gimo 147) and a trio for two mandolins and bass (Gimo 150), all rated intermediate or upper intermediate. These pieces come from the Gimo collection, hand-copied in Italy in the first half of 1762 by a Swede, Jean Lefebure, and sold as commercial products. Another Gervasio sonata for mandolin and bass is held at the Bibliothèque Nationale de France; it may be the same piece that Konrad Wölki called Two sonatas for mandolin and bass and placed in Paris. Gervasio also wrote a set of airs for mandolin, guitar, violin or German flute mixed with songs. A good place to start is the Gimo 147 duet and the Gimo 149 sonata, moving on afterwards to the remaining sonatas and the trio.