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VIOTTI, GIOVANNI BATTISTA (1753-1824)
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See also:VIOTTI, GIOVANNI BATTISTA (1753-1824) , See also:Italian violinist and musical composer, was See also:born at Fontanetto in the See also:province af See also:Turin on the 23rd of May 1753. He learned the rudiments of See also:music from his See also:father, a blacksmith who played the See also:horn; and in 1764 Giovannini taught him the See also:violin for a See also:year. Two years later he was placed at the cost of the See also:prince de la Ciserne under the violinist G. Pugnani at Turin, where he became violinist in the See also:court See also:chapel. In 178o Viotti, having already made himself a name, travelled through See also:Germany and See also:Poland to See also:Russia, where the empress See also:Catherine honoured him with marks of extraordinary favour. He next appeared in See also:London, in See also:company with Pugnani, and at once achieved a brilliant and lasting reputation. In 1782 he was equally successful in See also:Paris. Two years later he was appointed See also:leader of the prince de See also:Soubise's private See also:orchestra; and in 1788 he undertook the direction of the See also:opera, raising the performances, with See also:Cherubini's assistance, to a very high level. He had also started an Italian opera in co-operation with the See also:barber Leonard, which was opened in 1789 in the Tuileries, being subsequently amalgamated with the See also:Theatre de la Foire St Germain in 1790 and finally merged in the new Theatre See also:Feydeau in 1791. In 1791 the Revolution compelled Viotti to See also:fly to London, where he took See also:part in the See also:Hanover Square concerts; but being suspected to be an See also:agent of the Revolutionary See also:Committee in Paris he was compelled to retire for a See also:time to the neighbourhood of See also:Hamburg, which he subsequently quitted, although the date of his departure, often given as 1795, does not seem probable. It is possible that he was already in 1794 in London, where he took shares in a See also:wine business, and he resided almost uninterruptedly there until 1819, whenhe once more settled in Paris, resumed the direction of the opera, and retired in 1822 with a See also:pension. He died in London on the loth (or 3rd) of See also: Viotti's playing was distinguished by an extreme purity of See also:style, a magnificent See also:tone, and an inexhaustible variety of poetical and imaginative expression. Among his See also:works are 29 violin concertos, a See also:series of symphonies concertantes for two violins, 45 duos, 18 trios and 21 quartets, and a See also:great number of sonatas, notturnos and other instrumental works. His school was worthily perpetuated by his See also:pupil Rode. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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