![Locatelli](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/93/Locatelli.png)
Pietro Antonio Locatelli (3 September 1695 in
Bergamo – 30 March 1764 in
Amsterdam
Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...
) was an Italian
Baroque composer and
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 regu ...
ist.
Biography
Bergamo
Little is known about Locatelli's childhood. In his early youth he was the third violinist and held the title of ''
virtuoso'' in the ''cappella musicale'' (musical establishment) of the church of
Santa Maria Maggiore in Bergamo. His first violin teachers were probably
Ludovico Ferronati and
Carlo Antonio Marino, both of whom were members of the ''cappella''. The ''
maestro di cappella
(, also , ) from German ''Kapelle'' (chapel) and ''Meister'' (master)'','' literally "master of the chapel choir" designates the leader of an ensemble of musicians. Originally used to refer to somebody in charge of music in a chapel, the term ha ...
'',
Francesco Ballarotti, may have taught him composition. In autumn 1711 Locatelli went to Rome to seek greater recognition.
Rome
Locatelli began studying in Rome in autumn 1711, probably under
Antonio Montanari or
Giuseppe Valentini
Giuseppe Valentini (14 December 1681 – November 1753), nicknamed ''Straccioncino'' (Little Ragamuffin), was an Italian violinist, painter, poet, and composer, though he is known chiefly as a composer of inventive instrumental music.
He studied ...
and perhaps for a short time under
Arcangelo Corelli
Arcangelo Corelli (, also , , ; 17 February 1653 – 8 January 1713) was an Italian composer and violinist of the Baroque era. His music was key in the development of the modern genres of sonata and concerto, in establishing the preeminence of th ...
, who died in January 1713. In a letter of 17 March 1714 Locatelli wrote to his father in Bergamo that he was a confirmed member of the ''compita accademia di vari instrumenti'', the household musicians of Prince Michelangelo I Caetani (1685–1759), where Valentini had worked as a violinist and composer since no later than 1710. Between 1716 and 1722, Locatelli was also a member of the ''congregazione generale dei musici di S. Cecilia'', and thus under the protection of the noble
prelate
A prelate () is a high-ranking member of the Christian clergy who is an ordinary or who ranks in precedence with ordinaries. The word derives from the Latin , the past participle of , which means 'carry before', 'be set above or over' or 'pre ...
and future
Cardinal Camillo Cybo
Camillo Cybo Malaspina (April 25, 1681 in Massa Carrara – January 12, 1743 in Rome) was an Italian cardinal of the Catholic Church.
Early life
Born into the aristocratic Cybo Malaspina family, he was the son of Carlo II Cybo, duke of Massa, who ...
. He also assisted other Roman noble houses, often including that of Cardinal
Pietro Ottoboni
Pope Alexander VIII ( it, Alessandro VIII; 22 April 1610 – 1 February 1691), born Pietro Vito Ottoboni, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 6 October 1689 to his death in February 1691. He is to date the las ...
in the church of San Lorenzo e San Damaso, probably until 7 February 1723. While in Rome, Locatelli debuted as a composer. In 1721 his ''XII Concerti grossi'', Op. 1, dedicated to Camillo Cybo, was published in Amsterdam.
Travels through Italy and Germany
From 1723 to 1728 Locatelli travelled through Italy and Germany.
Mantua
Mantua ( ; it, Mantova ; Lombard and la, Mantua) is a city and '' comune'' in Lombardy, Italy, and capital of the province of the same name.
In 2016, Mantua was designated as the Italian Capital of Culture. In 2017, it was named as the Eur ...
,
Venice
Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 bridges. The isla ...
,
Munich
Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...
,
Dresden
Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label= Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth ...
,
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...
,
Frankfurt
Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , " Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on it ...
and
Kassel are the only places he is known to have visited. Most of his concert compositions, including the violin concertos and the ''capricci'', were probably written in this period. They were published later in Amsterdam. It is believed that his performances made him famous, but almost no source attests to his attaining high virtuosity.
Locatelli's activity at the court of the regent of Mantua, the landgrave Philipp von Hessen-Darmstadt, is attested by a 1725 document in which the landgrave refers to him as "our virtuoso". How often and in what capacity Locatelli performed at that court is not known. Also unknown is the time of his activity in Venice, although he certainly went there.
One notice describes Locatelli's visit to Munich. On 26 June 1727, the "foreign virtuoso Locatelli" was paid twelve double golden
guilder
Guilder is the English translation of the Dutch and German ''gulden'', originally shortened from Middle High German ''guldin pfenninc'' " gold penny". This was the term that became current in the southern and western parts of the Holy Roman Emp ...
by the elector's director of music.
Just one year later, in May 1728, Locatelli visited the Prussian court in Berlin. He moved from Dresden to
Potsdam
Potsdam () is the capital and, with around 183,000 inhabitants, largest city of the German state of Brandenburg. It is part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. Potsdam sits on the River Havel, a tributary of the Elbe, downstream o ...
with
Augustus II
Augustus II; german: August der Starke; lt, Augustas II; in Saxony also known as Frederick Augustus I – Friedrich August I (12 May 16701 February 1733), most commonly known as Augustus the Strong, was Elector of Saxony from 1694 as well as Ki ...
and the elector's escort of about 500 people, including
Johann Georg Pisendel
Johann Georg Pisendel ( – 25 November 1755) was a German Baroque violinist and composer who, for many years, led the Court Orchestra in Dresden as concertmaster, then the finest instrumental ensemble in Europe. He was the leading violinist of ...
,
Johann Joachim Quantz
Johann Joachim Quantz (; 30 January 1697 – 12 July 1773) was a German composer, flutist and flute maker of the late Baroque period. Much of his professional career was spent in the court of Frederick the Great. Quantz composed hundreds of flute ...
and
Silvius Leopold Weiss
Sylvius Leopold Weiss (12 October 168716 October 1750) was a German composer and lutenist.
Born in Grottkau near Breslau, the son of Johann Jacob Weiss, also a lutenist, he served at courts in Breslau, Rome, and Dresden, where he died. Until re ...
. A notice about Locatelli's performance before
Frederick William I anecdotally describes the musician's self-assurance and his vanity in wearing gorgeous, diamond-studded clothes. The aristocratic listeners may have preferred
Johann Gottlieb Graun Johann Gottlieb Graun (1702/1703 – 28 October 1771) was a German Baroque/Classical era composer and violinist, born in Wahrenbrück. His brother Carl Heinrich was a singer and also a composer, and is the better known of the two.
Johann Gottlieb ...
's violin playing to Locatelli's.
According to an entry in a rich autograph collector's records, Locatelli was living in Frankfurt on 20 October 1728. The entry includes a miniature version of the Andante from ''Sonata III'', Op. 2, for piano.
Locatelli's last known stop was in Kassel, where he received the very high payment of 80
reichsthaler
The ''Reichsthaler'' (; modern spelling Reichstaler), or more specifically the ''Reichsthaler specie'', was a standard thaler silver coin introduced by the Holy Roman Empire in 1566 for use in all German states, minted in various versions for the ...
after his visit to
Charles I, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel, on 7 December 1728. The organist Jacob Wilhelm Lustig stated in 1728 that Locatelli had astonished his listeners with hugely difficult passages while scraping at his violin.
Amsterdam
![Prinsengracht_506_plaque](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b5/Prinsengracht_506_plaque.JPG)
In 1729 Locatelli moved to Amsterdam, where he stayed until his death. He did not compose so much as previously, but gave violin lessons to amateurs and edited his
opp. 1–9 and the works of other musicians, such as
Giovanni Battista Martini
Giovanni Battista or Giambattista Martini, O.F.M. Conv. (24 April 1706 – 3 August 1784), also known as Padre Martini, was an Italian Conventual Franciscan friar, who was a leading musician, composer, and music historian of the per ...
's Op. 2. His sparsely documented public and semi-public performances were open only to music lovers, not to professional musicians. An Englishman who heard him in 1741 wrote "he is so afraid of People Learning from him, that He won't admit a Professed Musician into his Concert". Some rich music lovers, who would play as amateurs with Locatelli, helped him to become affluent. In aristocratic circles he was a recognized, admired and supported virtuoso and composer. In 1741 he set up a business selling violin strings from his home. Including taxes he earned about 1500 guilders in 1742 alone, the highest income of any musician from Amsterdam.
[Dunning 1981, vol. I, p. 306] It is unknown why from 1744, when he released Op. 8, to 1762, when he released Op. 9, there were no reports of him from lexicographers, listeners or national and international music journalists.
Locatelli died on 30 March 1764 in his house on the
Prinsengracht
The Prinsengracht is a -long canal that runs parallel to the Keizersgracht in the center of Amsterdam. The canal, named after the Prince of Orange, is the fourth of the four main canals belonging to the canal belt.
History
Construction starte ...
.
Legacy
A library with over a thousand documents shows Locatelli's interest in literature and science. It includes
ornithological
Ornithology is a branch of zoology that concerns the "methodological study and consequent knowledge of birds with all that relates to them." Several aspects of ornithology differ from related disciplines, due partly to the high visibility and th ...
,
theological
Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the s ...
,
church historical,
political
Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that stud ...
,
geographical
Geography (from Greek: , ''geographia''. Combination of Greek words ‘Geo’ (The Earth) and ‘Graphien’ (to describe), literally "earth description") is a field of science devoted to the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, and ...
,
art historical and
mathematical
Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...
works, and literature on music theory dating back to the 16th century. His ''
nachlass
''Nachlass'' (, older spelling ''Nachlaß'') is a German word, used in academia to describe the collection of manuscripts, notes, correspondence, and so on left behind when a scholar dies. The word is a compound in German: ''nach'' means "after ...
'' includes all important writers from
Dante
Dante Alighieri (; – 14 September 1321), probably baptized Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri and often referred to as Dante (, ), was an Italian people, Italian Italian poetry, poet, writer and philosopher. His ''Divine Comedy'', origin ...
on. Among the large quantity of printed and unbound sheet music there are the collected works of Corelli. Also available are pictures by Dutch, Italian and French masters. All these things, as well as his instruments and much more, were auctioned in August 1765.
Music
When Locatelli went to Amsterdam in 1729, he discovered the centre of European music publishing. He published his Opp. 2–6, 8 and 9 and a new edition of Op. 1 in Amsterdam, and Op. 7 in the neighbouring city of
Leiden
Leiden (; in English and archaic Dutch also Leyden) is a city and municipality in the province of South Holland, Netherlands. The municipality of Leiden has a population of 119,713, but the city forms one densely connected agglomeration wi ...
. He took great care to achieve flawless editions. Locatelli gave the well-arranged works to different publishers, and he edited and sold the less-arranged works.
Not only Op. 1 was composed in his early years, but also Op. 3 and parts of Op. 2 and 4 to 8. Locatelli obtained a
privilege which protected Opp. 1–8 (which were also issued in Leiden, in Holland) from unauthorised reprints and prevented the import of reprints. In his application for the privilege he referred to himself as an "Italian music master living in Amsterdam". As a consequence of the privilege, Locatelli had to give free copies to the Leiden university library; thus, first prints have been preserved up to the present. An exception was Op. 9, which was published after the expiry of the legal protection.
Locatelli's works can be divided into three categories:
*works for his own performances as a virtuoso;
*representative works for larger ensembles;
*chamber music and small works arranged for small ensembles.
![Trillo del diavolo](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/de/Trillo_del_diavolo.png)
Examples of virtuoso works are the Violin Concertos Op. 3 with their associated ''Capricci'', and the Violin Sonata Op. 6 with one ''Capriccio''. Both works, and especially Op. 3, were standards for virtuosos and made him famous throughout Europe. The ''Capricci'' were important study and exercise pieces but were not intended for public performance. It was probably through French violin schools that musicians such as
Niccolò Paganini
Niccolò (or Nicolò) Paganini (; 27 October 178227 May 1840) was an Italian violinist and composer. He was the most celebrated violin virtuoso of his time, and left his mark as one of the pillars of modern violin technique. His 24 Caprices fo ...
discovered Locatelli's music. Paganini's ''Capriccio'' Op. 1, Nr. 1 is similar to Locatelli's ''Capriccio'' Nr. 7.
Locatelli's virtuosity is reflected in the ''Capricci'' through the use of high registers,
double stop
In music, a double stop is the technique of playing two notes simultaneously on a stringed instrument such as a violin, a viola, a cello, or a double bass. On instruments such as the Hardanger fiddle it is common and often employed. In performin ...
ping, chords and arpeggios with wide fingering and overextension of the left hand,
harmonics, trills in two-part passages (''Trillo del Diavolo''), double trills, varied bow types and variable bowings.
Locatelli's ''Concerti'' Op. 1, Op. 7 and those from Op. 4 are modelled on Corelli's
''Twelve concerti grossi'', Op. 6. The ''Introduttioni teatrali'' Op. 4 follow the format of the
Neapolitan opera sinfonia.
The Flute Sonatas, Op. 2, the Trio Sonatas, Op. 5, the Violin Sonatas and the Trio Sonatas, Op. 8 were popular in Amsterdam, favouring the city's overall
galant image matched with contemporary popular music.
[Dunning 1981, vol. I, pp. 207, 210 et seq & 229]
Works
*Op. 1 (1721) – ''XII Concerti grossi à Quattro e à Cinque'', (12 four- and five-parts concerti grossi: in F, C minor, B flat, E minor, D, C minor, F, F minor, D, C, C minor, G minor)
*Op. 2 (1732) – ''XII Sonate à Flauto traversiere solo e Basso'', (12 flute sonatas: in G, D, B flat, G, D, G minor, A, F, E, G, D, G)
*Op. 3 (1733) – ''
L'Arte del Violino; XII Concerti Cioè, Violino solo, con XXIV Capricci ad libitum'', (12 violin concertos with 24 Capriccios ad lib.: in D, C minor, F, E, C, G minor, B flat, E minor, G, F, A, D "Il laberinto armonico")
*Op. 4 (1735) – ''VI Introduttioni teatrali e VI Concerti'', (6 theatrical Introductions: in D, F, B flat, G, D, C and 6 concerti grossi: in D, F, G, Eb, C minor, F)
*Op. 5 (1736) – ''VI Sonate à Trè'', (6 trio sonatas: in G, E minor, E, C, D minor, G "Bizarria")
*Op. 6 (1737) – ''XII Sonate à Violino solo e Basso da Camera'', (12 violin sonatas: in F minor, F, E, A, G minor, D, C minor, C, B minor, A minor, E flat, D minor)
*Op. 7 (1741) – ''VI Concerti à quattro'', (6 Four-parts concerti: in D, B flat, G, F, G minor, E flat)
*Op. 8 (1744) – ''X Sonate, VI à Violino solo e Basso e IV à Trè'', (6 violin sonatas: in F, D, G minor, C, G, E flat; and 4 trio sonatas: A, D, F minor, A)
*Op. 9 (1762) – ''VI Concerti a quattro'' (6 four-parts concerti), Amsterdam 1762
*Works without opus number:
**''Sonata'' in G minor, for violin and
b.c.
** ''Sinfonia
..composta per l'esequie della sua Donna che si celebrarono in Roma'' F minor, for 2 violins, viola and b.c.
**''Concerto'' A major, for violin, 2 violins, viola and b.c.
**''Concerto'' E major, for violin, 2 violins, viola and b.c.
*Opera dubia (doubtful works): Violin concertos, symphonies, trio sonata, flute duets, one oboe sonata, one capriccio in E for violin.
*Numerous other works of different genres are lost.
References
Sources
*John Hendrik Calmeyer: ''The Life, Times and Works of Pietro Antonio Locatelli'', University of North Carolina, 1969
*(in Italian) Albert Dunning (publisher): ''Pietro Antonio Locatelli, Opera omnia'', critical collected edition in 10 volumes, London/Mainz 1994,
*(in Italian) Albert Dunning (publisher):''Pietro Antonio Locatelli, Catalogo tematico, lettere, documenti & iconografia'', Mainz 2001,
*(in German) Albert Dunning: ''Pietro Antonio Locatelli. Der Virtuose und seine Welt.'' Buren 1981,
*Arend Koole: "Pietro Antonio Locatelli", in: ''
Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart
''Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart: Allgemeine Enzyklopädie der Musik (MGG)'' is one of the world's most comprehensive encyclopedias of music history and musicology, on account of its scope, content, wealth of research areas, and reference t ...
'', 1st edition, vol. 8, Kassel et al., 1960, col. 1076
*(in Italian) Fulvia Morabito: "Pietro Antonio Locatelli", in ''
Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart
''Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart: Allgemeine Enzyklopädie der Musik (MGG)'' is one of the world's most comprehensive encyclopedias of music history and musicology, on account of its scope, content, wealth of research areas, and reference t ...
'', 2nd edition, vol. 11, Kassel et al. 2004, col. 357–362
External links
*
*
Audio example of Flute Sonata Op. 2
{{DEFAULTSORT:Locatelli, Pietro
Italian Baroque composers
Male violinists
Musicians from Bergamo
1695 births
1764 deaths
18th-century Italian composers
18th-century Italian male musicians