Giovanni Battista Viotti (1755-1824)
- Concerto de Clavecin avec Violon Obligé (c.1787)
Performers: Eugene List (1918-1985, piano); Carroll Glenn (1918-1983,
violin);
The Biedermeier Orchestra; Kurt List (1913-1970, conductor)
---
Italian violinist and composer. His father, a blacksmith, was an amateur
musician who taught his son music and also bought a small violin for
him to practice on. At the age of 11, Viotti was sent to Turin, where he
gained the favor of Alfonso del Pozzo, Prince della Cisterna, who
oversaw his education. After lessons with Antonio Celoniat, Viotti
became a pupil of Pugnani in 1770. In 1775 he became a member of the
last desk of 1st violins in the orchestra of the Royal Chapel in Naples.
In 1780 he and Pugnani launched a major concert tour, performing in
Switzerland, Dresden, Berlin, Warsaw, and St. Petersburg. By 1782 Viotti
was in Paris on his own, where he first appeared at the Concert
Spirituel (March 17). He immediately established himself as the premier
violin virtuoso of the day, and gave regular concerts there until 1783.
In 1784 he entered the service of Marie Antoinette in Versailles; he
also acted as concertmaster of the orchestra of Prince Rohan-Guemenee.
Thanks to the patronage of the Court of Provence, he opened the Theatre
de Monsieur in Paris in 1788, which became the Theatre Feydeau in 1791.
During his tenure there, he staged major works from the Italian and
French repertories, including those of his close friend Cherubini. In
1792 he fled the revolution-wracked city of Paris for London, where he
made his debut at Salomon's Hanover Square Concert on Feb. 7, 1793. He
was the featured violinist of Salomon's concerts until 1795, and also
acting manager of the Italian opera at the King's Theatre (1794-95). He
became music director of the new Opera Concerts in 1795 and, in 1797,
concertmaster and director of the orch. at the King's Theatre. In 1798
he was ordered by the British government to leave England on suspicion
of Jacobin sympathies. After living in Schenfeldt, near Hamburg
(1798-99), he was back in London by 1801, where he was engaged mainly in
a wine business, although he later helped to found the Phil. Society
and appeared in some of its chamber-music programs.
In 1818 his wine business failed, and he returned to Paris, where he
became director of the Opera in 1819. He resigned in 1821, serving as
its nominal director until 1822, but then abandoned music altogether and
returned to London in 1823 to be with his closest friends, Mr and Mrs
William Chinnery. He died in their home in Portman Square. Viotti's role
in the history of instrumental music, in both performance and
composition, was very important. He elevated performing standards from
mere entertainment to artistic presentation, and he may be regarded as
one of the chief creators of modern violin playing. He was the first to
write violin concertos in a consciously formulated sonata form, with the
solo part and the orch. accompaniment utilizing the full resources of
instrumental sonority more abundantly than ever before in violin
concertos. He publ. 29 violin concertos (of which No. 22, in A minor, is
a great favorite), 10 piano concertos (some of which are transcriptions
of violin concertos), 2 symphonies concertantes for 2 Violins, Strings,
Oboes, and Horns, 21 string quartets, 21 string trios, various duos for
2 Violins, 6 serenades for 2 Violins, several duos for 2 Cellos, 3
divertissements for Violin Unaccompanied, 12 sonatas for Violin and
Piano, etc. His song known as "La polacca de Viotti" (used in
Paisiello's La Serva padrona, 1794) acquired great popularity. For the
rectification of Viotti's birth date (heretofore given as May 23, 1753),
see Stampa di Torino of Sept. 29, 1935, which published for the first
time the text of his birth certificate; an infant brother of Viotti was
born in 1753; their Christian names were identical (the brother having
died before the birth of the future musician), which led to confusion.
The bicentennial of Viotti was widely celebrated in the wrong year
(1953).
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