Gaetano Pugnani (1731-1798)
- Concerto in re maggiore per due violini
Performers: Giacomo Agazzini (violin); Umberto Fantini (violin);
EnsembIe d'archi "CoIIegium Theatrum Sabaudiae"
Further info: Gaetano Pugnani (1731-1798) - Sonate e trii
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Italian violinist and composer. His principal teacher was G.B. Somis, a
pupil of Corelli. At the age of ten he began his career as a second
violinist in the orchestra at the Teatro Regio, Turin, though his
official appointment was delayed until 19 April 1748. A royal stipend
enabled him to study composition with Francesco Ciampi in Rome
(1749-50). On his return to Turin he resumed his modest orchestra post,
though with doubled salary. He became principal of the second violins in
1763. By that time he had acquired an international reputation. On 2
February 1754 he performed one of his own concertos at the Concert
Spirituel in Paris, where his first published works appeared the same
year. The Mercure de France wrote: ‘the connoisseurs insist that they
have never heard a violinist superior to this virtuoso’. From 1767 to
1769 he served as conductor at the King’s Theatre in London, where his
first opera, Nanetta e Lubino (1769), met with success. He also appeared
in concerts with J.C. Bach and other prominent musicians. In 1770 he
became first violinist of the king’s music in Turin, a post his teacher
Somis had held and which included the leadership of the Teatro Regio
orchestra. In 1776 he also became general director of instrumental
music, and in 1786 was appointed supervisor of military bands. From 1780
to 1782 he toured northern Europe with his illustrious pupil Viotti. A
commission for Naples in 1784 initiated a period of activity in which he
wrote four operas in five years, as well as some ballet music. His last
foreign journey took him to Vienna, where on 22 March 1796 he conducted
his orchestral suite based on Goethe’s Werther. During his last years
he saw the decline and ultimate dissolution of Turin’s musical
establishment as a result of the war with France.
Pugnani was a vital link in the uninterrupted tradition from Corelli to
Viotti. Gratefully, Viotti called himself ‘élève du célèbre Pugnani’ on
his printed music; among Pugnani’s other pupils were Borghi, Bruni and
Polledro. His playing was known for its power, eloquence and rich
cantilena; his ‘arco magno’ (grand bowing) became proverbial. He
probably played an important part in the development of the modern bow:
he himself used a bow (called an ‘archetto alla Pugnani’) that was
straighter, longer and equipped with a screw, and he may have exchanged
views with the Parisian bowmaker Tourte père in 1754 and with the
younger François Tourte in 1772–3, both of whom were engaged in bringing
the bow into its present form. Pugnani also preferred to use thicker
strings, perhaps because they were better able to withstand the greater
pressure of his bowing. As a composer Pugnani reached far beyond the
violin into the field of opera, symphony and chamber music, and must be
considered an important representative of mid-century Italian
Classicism. His symphonies exemplify the Italian theatrical style best
known through its Mannheimer and Viennese proponents. He preferred a
four-movement sequence with a minuet in third place. His chamber music
stands midway between that of Sammartini and Boccherini, and often
dispensed with a figured bass, though not always successfully. Several
of his trios and quintets required an obbligato keyboard part and
assorted instruments. His only known violin concerto follows the form
established by Tartini but reflects the galant style of the 1760s.
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