The life of Domenico Gabrielli was brief: born in Bologna in 1651, he died before the age of forty in 1690. Gabrielli divided his musical activities between the cello and composition.

He was without question an excellent cellist, capable of astonishing his contemporaries. Nicknamed “Minghén dal viulunzèl”, he was already employed as cellist at the basilica of S. Petronio in 1680, and was in demand as one of the foremost virtuosos on the instrument at the courts of northern Italy. This included the Estense court of Francesco II in Modena, for the duke himself was a great patron of music in general and of the cello in particular.

It was principally in his later years that Gabrielli dedicated himself to composition: in less than a decade he wrote no less than twelve operas, three oratories, and the works for cello recorded here.