Andrea Teodoro Zani (11 November 1696 – 28 September 1757) was an Italian

violin The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...

ist and

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

Life

Zani was born at

Casalmaggiore Casalmaggiore ( Casalasco-Viadanese: ) is a ''comune'' in the province of Cremona, Lombardy, Italy, located across the Po River. It was the birthplace of Italian composers Ignazio Donati and Andrea Zani. It became worldwide famous thanks to its ...

in the

Province of Cremona The Province of Cremona ( it, provincia di Cremona; Cremunés: ; Cremasco: ; Casalasco-Viadanese: ) is a province in the Lombardy region of Italy. Its capital city is Cremona. The province occupies the central section of Padana Plain, so the ...

. He received his first instruction in playing the

from his father, an amateur violinist. Subsequently, he received instruction in

composition Composition or Compositions may refer to: Arts and literature *Composition (dance), practice and teaching of choreography *Composition (language), in literature and rhetoric, producing a work in spoken tradition and written discourse, to include v ...

from Giacomo Civeri, a local musician, and studied violin in

Guastalla Guastalla ( Guastallese: ) is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Reggio Emilia in Emilia-Romagna, Italy. Geography Guastalla is situated in the Po Valley, and lies on the banks of the Po River. Guastalla is located at around from the citie ...

with the court violinist Carlo Ricci.

Antonio Caldara Antonio Caldara (ca 1670 – 28 December 1736) was an Italian Baroque composer. Life Caldara was born in Venice (exact date unknown), the son of a violinist. He became a chorister at St Mark's in Venice, where he learned several instruments, ...

, who was working as Capellmeister at the court of Archduke Ferdinand Charles in

Mantua Mantua ( ; it, Mantova ; Lombard language, Lombard and la, Mantua) is a city and ''comune'' in Lombardy, Italy, and capital of the Province of Mantua, province of the same name. In 2016, Mantua was designated as the Italian Capital of Culture ...

, not far from Casalmaggiore, heard Zani play and invited him to accompany him to

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

. Between 1727 and 1729 Zani arrived in Vienna and was active there as a violinist in the service of the

Habsburgs The House of Habsburg (), alternatively spelled Hapsburg in Englishgerman: Haus Habsburg, ; es, Casa de Habsburgo; hu, Habsburg család, it, Casa di Asburgo, nl, Huis van Habsburg, pl, dom Habsburgów, pt, Casa de Habsburgo, la, Domus Hab ...

. Following the death of his sponsor Caldara in 1736, he returned to Casalmaggiore where he remained for the rest of his life, except for occasional concert appearances. He died in his home town as the result of an accident, when the carriage in which he was travelling to Mantua overturned.

Style and significance

Zani's works show the influence of

Antonio Vivaldi Antonio Lucio Vivaldi (4 March 1678 – 28 July 1741) was an Italian composer, virtuoso violinist and impresario of Baroque music. Regarded as one of the greatest Baroque composers, Vivaldi's influence during his lifetime was widespread a ...

, but are somewhat less sweeping. His op. 2, published in 1729, is of great historical importance because it is the earliest dated source of symphonies that present no ambiguities of genre. His late works clearly exhibit a casting off of

baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

elements in favor of early classical ones.

Compositions

*''12 Sonate da camera'', op.1 (probably Casalmaggiore, 1727) (Reprinted in Paris as Sonates a violino solo e basso da camera, op. 3) *''Sei sinfonie da camera e altretanti concerti da chiesa a quattro strumenti'', op. 2 (Casalmaggiore, 1729) *''Concerti Dodici a quattro con i suoi ripieni'', op. 4 (Vienna, 1735) *''Sonate 12 a violino e basso intitolate "pensieri armonici"'', op. 5 (Vienna, 1735) *''Sonate a violino e basso'', op. 6 (Paris, 1740) *In addition, there are numerous manuscripts found in libraries scattered throughout Europe, including three concertos and one sonata for flute, at least twelve concertos for cello, six trio sonatas for two violins and continuo, as well as several violin concertos and symphonies.

Sources

*Larue, Jan, and Eugene K. Wolf. "Symphony, §I: 18th century". ''Grove Music Online'' ed. L. Macy (Accessed 17 February 2007) *

External links

* *Villa, Marcello. 2002
"Andrea Zani"
Copyright © 2002 MVCremona. *Complete Cello Concertos performed by Martin Rummel {{DEFAULTSORT:Zani, Andrea Italian Baroque composers Italian classical violinists Composers for violin 1696 births 1757 deaths Male classical violinists People from Casalmaggiore Italian male classical composers 18th-century Italian composers 18th-century Italian male musicians