Biography
Jacchini served as a cellist and wrote compositions tailored to that instrument alongside trumpet and strings, frequently inserting imitative exchanges that suggested conversational interplay between the trumpet and cello or between the trumpet and the remaining string parts. Although the cello often occupied a required foundational role in these works, he freed it from such constraints and positioned it among the melodic instruments with independent vitality. While he never established the cello in an exclusively solo capacity, Jacchini ranks among the earliest composers to assign it solo duties, however tentative that step may have been. His affiliation with S Petrino in Bologna remained intermittent, a direct result of the cappella musicale’s dissolution from 1696 to 1701. As a member of the Accademia Filharmonica he sustained the trumpet-and-string sonata lineage initiated by Cazzati, Torelli, and Perti. His music circulated and found favor beyond Bologna, earning recognition that preceded even the esteem accorded his teacher Domenico Gabrieli.