International museum and
library of music of Bologna

In 1729 Martini was ordained priest; from that time on, and (partly also because of his unstable health conditions) he mainly lived inside the Bolognese convent.

As documented in the approximately 6.000 letters preserved in the Museum, Padre Martini kept in contact with distinguished colleagues and eminent political and cultural figures.

From many of Martini’s letters we can also see the affectionate rapport he had with his students who came to Bologna from virtually everywhere in Europe: Spain, France, Austria, Germany, Denmark, Russia, the Netherlands, etc. For some (Nicolò Jommelli, Johann Christian Bach, Wolfgang Amadé Mozart, André Grétry), who spent only a few weeks in his school, mainly facilitated their obtaining the diploma of accademico filarmonico—that is, he helped them join the Accademia in Bologna, an official recognition of their professional accomplishments bestowed by the distinguished institution which had been organizing musical life in the city since 1666.

Among his most exceptional students was Bach’s youngest son, Johann Christian (1735-1782) who had arrived in Italy in 1754 at age 19. Thanks to his patron, the Milanese Count Agostino Litta, he was able to conclude his education with Padre Martini; even after having been appointed second organist in the Duomo in Milan, he continued to submit many of his new compositions to Martini’s judgment, creating de facto a virtual correspondence course in counterpoint. In 1776 Martini began to ask for Bach’s portrait to be located “among the illustrious men”; the commission of the famous portrait to Thomas Gainsborough (1727-1788) soon followed. The portrait arrived in Bologna two years later, probably because the painter needed enough time to make a copy of it (now in the National Portrait Gallery in London).

The story of 14-year old Wolfgang Amadé Mozart’s (1756-1791) entrance exam to the Accademia Filarmonica on 9 October 1770 has become legend.

The anecdote is well known: while witnessing the exam, Martini had the promising youth re-transcribe the four-voice antiphon on the chant melody “Quaerite primum regnum Dei,” after having “fixed” it and rewritten it himself in a more strict contrapuntal style that would have satisfied the exam committee. In his final testimonial, Martini (secretly) justifies his gesture: “having seen some Musical Compositions in various styles, and having several times heard [him play] the Harpsichord, the Violin, and sing, … with my great admiration I have found him extremely well-skilled in all these musical qualities.”

For his part Mozart also showed his affection for the elderly theorist: in a letter from 1778, he deplores being so far away “from the person I most love, admire, and esteem in the world.”