Pietro Denis (1720–1790), also known as Pierre Denis, was a French
mandolin
A mandolin ( it, mandolino ; literally "small mandola") is a stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally plucked with a pick. It most commonly has four courses of doubled strings tuned in unison, thus giving a total of 8 ...
virtuoso and teacher, and composer. He studied under Giuliano in
Naples
Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...
and established himself in Paris. He is best known for his compositions
Sonata
Sonata (; Italian: , pl. ''sonate''; from Latin and Italian: ''sonare'' rchaic Italian; replaced in the modern language by ''suonare'' "to sound"), in music, literally means a piece ''played'' as opposed to a cantata (Latin and Italian ''cant ...
for Mandolin & Continuo No. 1 in D major and Sonata No. 3 for Mandolin. He also wrote a
mandolin instruction method, ''Méthode pour apprendre à jouer de la mandoline sans Maître'' (method to learn how to play mandolin without a teacher), published Paris in 1768.
[Philip J. Bone, ''The guitar and mandolin, Biographies of celebrated players and composers for these instruments'', Schott and Company, London, 1914]
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He wrote another mandolin method, published in Paris in 1792, and was the author also of ''Four collections of airs for the mandolin; a New system of practical music'', issued in Paris in 1747. Denis also wrote a French translation of Tartinf's ''Tratto delle appogiature si asceudenti che discendeiiti per il violino'', under the title of ''Traite des agremens de la musique, compose par le celebre Giuzeppe Tartini a Padua, et traduit par le Sigr. P.Denis''. This volume was published by M. de la Chevardier, Paris.[
In his final years, in 1780, he was a music master in a ladies' seminary in Saint Cyr.][
]
Other works
*Variations on La follia
*"A vous dirai-je maman" for two mandolins
*Variations on Air de Lison for two mandolins
*Prelude for solo "discordant" mandolinUniversity of Wisconsin Madison Libraries, Catalog, ''The Mandolin through the ages''
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*Variations for solo mandolin
*Kleine Stücke und Variationen : für zwei Mandolinen oder Mandoline und Mandola (Small pieces and variations: for two mandolins and mandolin and mandola)
Books
*Traité de composition musicale
*Treaty pleasures of music, containing the origin of the small note, its value, the manner of the place, all the different species of cadences, the way to use them, trembling and biting, use, that we can do, or charms natural modes, the modes artifficiels going to infinity, lan way to form a climax...
References
External links
The Mandolin Methods by Gabriele Leone, Giovanni Fouchetti and Pietro Denis (18th century)
Page with biography of Denis
{{DEFAULTSORT:Denis, Pietro
1720 births
1790 deaths
Italian Classical-period composers
Italian male classical composers
Italian mandolinists
Italian music educators
18th-century Italian composers
18th-century Italian male musicians