Bononcini, Giovanni Battista (1670–1748)

Italian composer, the elder son of Giovanni Maria Bononcini. He became known as a composer of operas, rivalling Handel for a time.

He was court composer at Vienna, Austria, 1700–11 and was invited to London, England, in 1720 where he shared with Handel and Attilo Ariosti the directorship of the Royal Academy of Music (a newly founded operatic enterprise), later being induced to run a rival house by the nobles who opposed the king.

Bononcini wrote the second act of the pasticcio Muzio Scevola (an operatic medley performed in London in 1721, the other acts written by Stanislao Mattei and Handel). He also wrote seven oratorios and many operas, including eight for London and about a dozen for Vienna.