Biography
Giovanni Battista Fontana (ca. 1571 – ca. 1630) was an Italian Baroque composer and violinist.
He was born in Brescia, and worked there and in Rome and Padua. He died in Padua during a plague.
Nearly all information preserved about him comes from the preface of his posthumously published 18 (sometimes incorrectly stated 12) sonatas (Sonate a 1.2.3. per il violino, o cornetto, fagotto, chitarone, violoncino o simile altro istromento, Venice, 1641). They are among the earliest sonatas of this form, consisting of 6 sonatas for solo violin/cornetto with continuo and 12 sonatas for various instruments.
