Francesco Giuseppe Pollini (25 March 1762 – 17 September 1846) was an Italian pianist, composer and academic.

Life

Pollini was born in

Ljubljana Ljubljana (also known by other historical names) is the capital and largest city of Slovenia. It is the country's cultural, educational, economic, political and administrative center. During antiquity, a Roman city called Emona stood in the ar ...

(now in

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, an ...

) in 1762, son of a doctor. He moved to Vienna in 1783, and was a student there of

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition r ...

. He returned to Ljubljana, performing there as a singer and actor. In Italy he appeared as a pianist, violinist and opera singer, appearing in several cities. From 1790 he lived mainly as a piano teacher in Milan, where in 1793 he took lessons from

Niccolò Antonio Zingarelli Niccolò Antonio Zingarelli (; 4 April 1752 – 5 May 1837) was an Italian composer, chiefly of opera. Life Early career Zingarelli was born in Naples, where he studied (from the age of 7) at the Santa Maria di Loreto Conservatory under Fena ...

. He made guest appearances in Paris and in German cities. From 1809 he was a professor of piano at

Milan Conservatory The Milan Conservatory (''Conservatorio di Milano'') is a college of music in Milan, Italy. History The conservatory was established by a royal decree of 1807 in Milan, capital of the Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy. It opened the following year ...

; he died in Milan in 1846."Pollini, Franz (Francesco) (1762-1846), Komponist, Pianist und Musikpädagoge"
''Österreichisches Biographisches Lexikon''. Retrieved 22 July 2023."Pollini, Franz (Francesco Giuseppe)""
''Oesterreichisches Muiklexikon online''. Retrieved 22 July 2023. Pollini was highly regarded by his contemporaries;

Vincenzo Bellini Vincenzo Salvatore Carmelo Francesco Bellini (; 3 November 1801 – 23 September 1835) was a Sicilian opera composer, who was known for his long-flowing melodic lines for which he was named "the Swan of Catania". Many years later, in 1898, Giu ...

dedicated the opera ''

La sonnambula ''La sonnambula'' (''The Sleepwalker'') is an opera semiseria in two acts, with music in the ''bel canto'' tradition by Vincenzo Bellini set to an Italian libretto by Felice Romani, based on a scenario for a ''ballet-pantomime'' written by Eu ...

'' to him.

Works

He composed piano music, which demand a virtuoso technique; chamber music; two operas (''Il genio insubre'' and ''La casetta nei boschi''}; a ''Stabat Mater'' and other church music. His instruction book for pianists, ''Metodo pel clavicembalo'', was used as a textbook at Milan Conservatory.

The three-hand effect

He is associated with the

three-hand effect The three-hand effect (or three-hand technique) is a means of playing on the piano with only two hands, but producing the impression that one is using three hands. Typically this effect is produced by keeping the melody in the middle register, wit ...

of piano playing; his biographer in '' A Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' (1900) wrote that he may be "considered as an inventor, having anticipated

Sigismond Thalberg Sigismond Thalberg (8 January 1812 – 27 April 1871) was an Austrian composer and one of the most distinguished virtuoso pianists of the 19th century. Family He was born in Pâquis near Geneva on 8 January 1812. According to his own account, h ...

in the extended grasp of the keyboard by the use of three staves (as in Thalberg's Fantasia on 'God save the Queen,' and 'Rule Britannia')—thus enabling the player to sustain a prominent melody in the middle region of the instrument, while each hand is also employed with elaborate passages above and beneath it". The technique "appears indeed to have been originated by Pollini in his ''Uno de' trentadue Esercizi in forma di toccata''". This piece, published in 1820, was dedicated to Giacomo Meyerbeer; the original edition contained a preface addressed to that composer by Pollini, which includes the following passage explaining the construction of the Toccata: "I propose to offer a simple melody more or less plain, and of varied character, combined with accompaniments of different rhythms, from which it can be clearly distinguished by a particular expression and touch in the cantilena in contrast to the accompaniment".

References

Attrribution *

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pollini, Francesco Giuseppe 1762 births 1846 deaths Musicians from Ljubljana 18th-century Italian composers 19th-century Italian composers Italian male pianists Academic staff of Milan Conservatory