Giuseppe Maria Gioacchino Cambini (1746-c.1825) was an Italian composer and violinist who spent much of his career in Paris. Details of his later life remain uncertain, but his output places him firmly in the lively instrumental world of the late eighteenth century.

Cambini wrote prolifically, producing symphonies, concertante works, operas and a large body of chamber music. He was particularly associated with string quartets and quintets, genres that were developing rapidly in his lifetime.

His music belongs to the Classical era’s sociable, conversational style: clear, melodically fluent and alert to instrumental interplay. Though not a revolutionary figure, he contributed substantially to the spread and refinement of chamber genres.

Cambini’s reputation has long been overshadowed by greater Viennese names, but his music helps fill in the busy European map around them. He is one of those composers who remind us that musical history was not a single boulevard, but a whole city of side streets.