FACCO, GIACOMO  

The composer, keyboard-player, violinist and cellist Giacomo Facco was one of the many Italian musicians working in the eighteenth century at the Spanish court. He served as a member of the Capilla Real and taught the children of Don Luis and Don Carlos, the future King Luis I and King Carlos III. The Balletti a due violoncelli are the first works for cello that we know of that were written in Spain. The six suites were written about 1723 with the two cellos treated as a duo, an unusual procedure at this period. A cellist in the Capilla Real between 1734 and 1783, Domenico Porretti enjoyed a considerable reputation as a player and was much admired by the famous singer Farinelli. He seems to have written 24 cello concertos and a work for four cellos mentioned by Padre Antonio Soler, the whereabouts of all of which are unknown.