Pietro Castrucci (1679-1752)
- Concerto Grosso (V), Opera Terza (1738)
Performers: Händеlfеstspiеlorchеster Halle; Antοn Stеck
Further info: Castrucci - Concerti Grossi op. 3
---
Italian violinist and composer. He is believed to have been a pupil of
Corelli in Rome, where in 1715 he and his younger brother Prospero (d
1760), also a violinist, came to the notice of Lord Burlington, Handel’s
patron. In May they accompanied Burlington to England, remaining in his
household until at least 1721. The two brothers spent most of their
working lives in London. Pietro’s first public appearance was at a
benefit concert on 23 July 1715, the first of many at which he played
his own virtuoso compositions, and often also works by Corelli. He led
Handel’s opera orchestra for over 20 years, and both he and Prospero are
referred to in certain of Handel’s autograph scores. Besides playing
the violin, they also performed on a short-lived instrument developed by
Pietro akin to the viola d’amore, which, if rightly assumed to have
been the ‘English violet’ Leopold Mozart mentioned in his Versuch, had
seven principal and 14 sympathetic strings. A pair of obbligato parts
inscribed ‘violette marine per gli Signori Castrucci’ occur in the
hero’s sleep aria in Handel’s Orlando, a part for one instrument is
included in Sosarme, and the same instrument may have been the violetta
used in Deborah and Ezio. Hawkins thought Pietro Castrucci ‘an excellent
performer on the violin’. His compositions, said Burney, ‘discover him
to have been a man of genius, well acquainted with the bow and
finger-board of his instrument’. Castrucci’s presence on the English
musical scene was fruitful, notwithstanding contemporary allusions to
his propensity for displaying the more spectacular aspects of violin
technique. Along with Geminiani and Carbonelli, also pupils of Corelli,
he continued the influential line of immigrant violin virtuosos.
As the more renowned of the Castrucci brothers, Pietro must have been
the contributor to Walsh & Hare’s publication of Six Sonatas or
Solos … for a Flute … Compos’d by Mr Geminiani & Castrucci (c.1720).
Of his other compositions, two sets of 12 solo sonatas for violin and
continuo and a set of 12 string concertos were published. Hawkins saw
great merit in them, while Burney, observing how ‘among many passages of
Corelli and Handel, there are several of his own’, stated that
Castrucci’s music was considered too mad for his own age. However,
theatre records indicate the popularity of his solo performances, and
his op.1 sonatas were issued at least three times. He is at his most
attractive in the solo sonatas, which, although not melodically
memorable, are written with assurance in a late Baroque style employing
the advanced violin techniques of the period, in bowing requirements,
multiple stops, scordatura, etc. In the closing years of Castrucci’s
career, after he had retired from the opera, he fell on hard times. He
was living in Dublin from 1750, and in his 72nd year played at his own
benefit concert, held at Fishamble Street, 21 February 1751. He died
just over a year later, his impoverished state contrasting bitterly with
the splendid funeral by which he was honoured (including Handel’s Dead
March from Saul). Known for his violent temper, Castrucci was identified
by Burney with the unfortunate immortalized in Hogarth’s The Enraged
Musician (1741), though John Festing may have a stronger claim. Prospero
Castrucci achieved little of his brother’s acclaim. After settling in
London he became an ordinary theatre musician: he played at the opera,
and led the amateur orchestra that met at the Castle Tavern, Paternoster
Row. His only publication, though he seems to have had further
aspirations since in the dedication he calls the set questa Primizie
della mia Composizione, was a set of six sonatas for violin and continuo
(London, 1739).
Cap comentari:
Publica un comentari a l'entrada