Composer of the Month July 2013

COMPOSER OF THE MONTH:

GIOVANNI BATTISTA VIOTTI

Although he's not an opera composer, I decided to make Viotti the composer of the month because recently I discovered the two concertos linked at the bottom.

A pupil of Pugnani, Giovanni Battista Viotti could claim to represent the continuing tradition of Italian violin-playing that started in the last quarter of the 17th century with Corelli. Pugnani had been a pupil of Somis, who had been a pupil of Corelli. Viotti made his first concert tour abroad with his teacher in 1780, moving thereafter to Paris, where he made a strong impression with his playing, entered the service of Marie-Antoinette and concerned himself with operatic administration. The Revolution in 1792 caused him to seek refuge in London, where he played at the concerts organized by Salomon, performances in which Haydn was involved during his two visits to London in the 1790s. Political exile from London took him for eighteen months to Germany and on his return to London at the beginning of the new century he occupied himself chiefly with the wine trade, rarely playing in public. The failure of his business was followed by appointment in 1819 as director of the Paris Opéra, a position he was compelled to relinquish two years later, when he returned to stay with friends in London, dying there in 1824. His career as a performer was relatively short, but his influence on violin-playing was very considerable, witnessed notably by the younger generation of players that included Rode, Kreutzer and Baillot.

List of notable violins Viotti owned 

Telláki Stradivarius 1690

Sopkin-Viotti Stradivarius 1695

Jupiter Stradivarius 1700

Viotti Stradivarius 1704

Marie Hall Stradivarius 1709

Viotti Stradivarius 1709

Viotti Stradivarius 1712

Colossus Stradivarius 1716

Arnold Rosé-Viotti Stradivarius 1718

Dragonetti-Milanollo Stradivarius 1728

Parlow-Viotti Guarneri del Gesù 1735

Links:

Viotti violin concerto 22 in A minor
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9Xx0LRhQFI
Music: http://imslp.org/wiki/Violin_Concerto_No.22_(Viotti,_Giovanni_Battista)
Viotti violin concerto 19 in G minor
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nm2Pa1setqc
Music:http://imslp.org/wiki/Violin_Concerto_No.19_(Viotti,_Giovanni_Battista)