Tomaso Albinoni, a Venetian composer, was born on June 8, 1671. He was the first of eight children to Giovanni Antonio and Lucrezia Albinoni. Due to his status as the eldest son, he was to assume responsibility of the family business of card making and stationary production. Since the Albinoni family inherited some wealth, Tomaso was educated in the arts. He first learned the violin, second voice, and later, composition or counterpoint. Although his family supported his quest for music, his father's will truncated Albinoni from the family business. This encouraged him to explore music to the fullest. Curiously, Albinoni never joined the musicians' guild, which would have allowed him to receive emolument for performing.
On March 17, 1705, Tomaso married Margherita Raimondi, a reputable opera star of the time. The circumstances that surround the wedding suggest an elopement although there is no solid evidence of this. Margherita and Tomaso produced seven children, all with noble and influential godparents In between children, Margherita managed to maintain a meritorious career. She died a famed opera star on August 22, 1721 in Venice due to 'fever and intestinal inflammation'.
Albinoni did little else in the public eye after the death of his wife. It is plausible that he ran a vocal music school, although there are no official records. He then moved to a neighborhood of destitute nobles in San Barnaba, and lived there with three of his children. He died there on January 17, 1751 of 'diabetes, fever, and catarrh'. During the years of 1740 until his death, Albinoni led the life of a recluse.
There is not much knowledge about Albinoni's personality or his private'ife. Albinoni continued to compose throughout his life He composed works in a style that was consistent throughout his life. This was because he was oblivious to what his contemporaries were creating at that time. Albinoni wrote a multitude of music for various instrumentations. This includes cantatas, sonatas, concertos, serenatas, oratorios, sinfonias, over fifty operas, and other works. Albinoni's music is the epitome of the baroque style, and resembles the sound of Bach and Vivaldi. His music could easily be broken down into three segments. In his early work, he ended most of his cadences with the plagal form, and the beginning and middle parts became the infrastructure. Albinoni's later work before his death explored some different techniques, but most of the instrumentation remained the same, meaning that one voice would carry the melody while the other instruments harmonized. His compositions reflect his life and are quintessential to Tomaso Albinoni.