Carlo Farina (ca. 1600 – July 1639) was an Italian composer, conductor 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 of the Early Baroque era.

Life

Farina was born at

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 ...

. He presumably received his first lessons from his father, who was '' sonatore di viola'' at the court of the Gonzaga in that city. Later he got further education probably by

Salomone Rossi Salamone Rossi or Salomone Rossi ( he, סלומונה רוסי or שלמה מן האדומים) (Salamon, Schlomo; de' Rossi) (ca. 1570 – 1630) was an Italian Jewish violinist and composer. He was a transitional figure between the late Ita ...

and

Giovanni Battista Buonamente Giovanni Battista Buonamente (ca. 1595 – 1642) was an Italian composer and violinist in the early Baroque era. He served the Gonzagas in Mantua until about 1622, and from about 1626 to 1630 served the Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II, Holy Rom ...

. From 1626 to 1629, he worked as concertmaster in

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 ...

. In Dresden he worked with

Heinrich Schütz Heinrich Schütz (; 6 November 1672) was a German early Baroque composer and organist, generally regarded as the most important German composer before Johann Sebastian Bach, as well as one of the most important composers of the 17th century. He ...

, who interested him in composing. From 1629 to 1631, he was a prominent member of the electoral court orchestra in

Bonn The federal city of Bonn ( lat, Bonna) is a city on the banks of the Rhine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with a population of over 300,000. About south-southeast of Cologne, Bonn is in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ru ...

, until he returned to Italy, where he worked in

Parma Parma (; egl, Pärma, ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, music, art, prosciutto (ham), cheese and surrounding countryside. With a population of 198,292 inhabitants, Parma is the second mos ...

and later in

Lucca Lucca ( , ) is a city and ''comune'' in Tuscany, Central Italy, on the Serchio River, in a fertile plain near the Ligurian Sea. The city has a population of about 89,000, while its province has a population of 383,957. Lucca is known as one ...

until 1635. In 1635 he held position at the court of

Carlo I Cybo-Malaspina Carlo I Cybo-Malaspina (18 November 1581 - 13 February 1662) was an Italian nobleman, who was prince of Massa and marquis of Carrara from 1623 until his death. Born in Ferrara Ferrara (, ; egl, Fràra ) is a city and ''comune'' in Emilia-Romag ...

, Prince of Massa, and between 1636 and 1637 in Gdańsk. From 1638 he lived in

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

, where he died of the plague probably a year later. He is considered to be one of the earliest violin virtuosos and he made many contributions to violin technique. For example, in his work ''Capriccio Stravagante'' (1627) he used the violin to imitate animal sounds like dogs barking or cats fighting. According to Cecil Forsyth's ''Orchestration'', he "is generally credited" with "the invention of the double-stop" (although nearly a century earlier Ganassi’s ''Regola rubertina'' (1542–3) describes the technique, suggesting it was common among contemporary

viol The viol (), viola da gamba (), or informally gamba, is any one of a family of bowed, fretted, and stringed instruments with hollow wooden bodies and pegboxes where the tension on the strings can be increased or decreased to adjust the pitc ...

players.David Froom (2001), ''New Grove Dictionary of Music'', ed. Stanley Sadie, vol. 17, 384.). Musical lineage aside, Carlo Farina was granted the title of Count of Reggio di Calabria by

Charles Emmanuel II, Duke of Savoy Charles Emmanuel II ( it, Carlo Emanuele II di Savoia); 20 June 1634 – 12 June 1675) was Duke of Savoy from 1638 to 1675 and under regency of his mother Christine of France until 1648. He was also Marquis of Saluzzo, Count of Aosta, Geneva, M ...

. He was head of music for the Royal Court of the Prince of Messa from 1626-1630.

Work

During his stay in Dresden he published five volumes, among them sonatas for 2, 3, 4 instruments and basso continuo. The pieces have often the same program as the title. Thus he uses Polish dance rhythms in the Sonata ''La Polaca'' or Hungarian motifs in ''La Cingara''.

Compositions

All published in Dresden: * ''Libro delle pavane, gagliarde, brand: mascharata, aria franzesa, volte, balletti, sonate, canzone'' (1626) * ''Ander Theil newer Paduanen, Gagliarden, Couranten, französischen Arien'' (1627, includes a set of ''Capriccio stravagante'') * ''Il terzo libro delle pavane, gagliarde, brand: mascherata, arie franzese, volte, corrente, sinfonie'' (1627) * ''Il quarto libro delle pavane, gagliarde, balletti, volte, passamezi, sonate, canzon'' (1628) * ''Fünffter Theil newer Pavanen, Brand: Mascharaden, Balletten, Sonaten'' (1628) Additionally, seven short ''ballets'' survive in a manuscript copy.

Sources

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Farina, Carlo 1600s births 1639 deaths Italian male classical composers Italian Baroque composers Italian musicians Pupils of Heinrich Schütz 17th-century deaths from plague (disease) 17th-century Italian composers 17th-century male musicians