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Francesco Geminiani
Francesco Xaverio Geminiani (baptised 5 December 1687 – 17 September 1762) was an Italian violinist, composer, and music theorist. BBC Radio 3 once described him as "now largely forgotten, but in his time considered almost a musical god, deemed to be the equal of Handel and Corelli". Life Born in Lucca, he received lessons in music from Alessandro Scarlatti, and studied the violin under Carlo Ambrogio Lonati in Milan and afterwards under Arcangelo Corelli. From 1707 he took the place of his father in the Cappella Palatina of Lucca. From 1711, he led the opera orchestra at Naples, as Leader of the Opera Orchestra and concertmaster, which gave him many opportunities for contact with Alessandro Scarlatti. After a brief return to Lucca, in 1714, he set off for London in the company of Francesco Barsanti, where he arrived with the reputation of a virtuoso violinist, and soon attracted attention and patrons, including William Capel, 3rd Earl of Essex, who remained a consistent ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Andrea Soldi
Andrea Soldi ( – ) was an Italian portraitist active in Britain. Life The only remaining source for this painter's early years is George Vertue, who in 1738 stated he was "about thirty-five or rather more", had been born in Florence and had come to England in about 1736 on the advice of British merchants belonging to the Levant Company, who had commissioned their portraits from him during his travels in the Middle East. From 1738 to 1744 he won much success in London's art market and among Italophile noblemen back from their Grand Tour, being preferred to both English portrait practice (fluctuating between Rococo and Godfrey Kneller, Kneller-like styles) and to other Italian portraitists in England at the time, such as the Cavaliere Rusca (worked in London 1738–39), and Andrea Casali (worked in London 1741–66). Beginning "above thirty portraits" from April to August 1738 alone (according to Vertue), Soldi's only serious rival was Jean-Baptiste van Loo (in London 1737– ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Freemason
Freemasonry (sometimes spelled Free-Masonry) consists of fraternal groups that trace their origins to the medieval guilds of stonemasons. Freemasonry is the oldest secular fraternity in the world and among the oldest still-existing organizations in history. Modern Freemasonry broadly consists of three main traditions: *Anglo-American Freemasonry, Anglo-American style Freemasonry, which insists that a "volume of sacred law", such as the Bible, Quran, or other religious text be open in a working Masonic lodge, lodge, that every member professes belief in a God, supreme being, that only men be admitted, and discussion of religion or politics does not take place within the lodge. *Continental Freemasonry or Liberal Freemasonry which has continued to evolve beyond these restrictions, particularly regarding religious belief and political discussion. *Co-Freemasonry, Women Freemasonry or Co-Freemasonry, which includes organizations that either admit women exclusively (such as the Ord ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Concerto Grosso
The concerto grosso (; Italian for ''big concert(o)'', plural ''concerti grossi'' ) is a form of baroque music in which the musical material is passed between a small group of soloists (the '' concertino'') and full orchestra (the '' ripieno'', '' tutti'' or ''concerto grosso''). This is in contrast to the solo concerto which features a single solo instrument with the melody line, accompanied by the orchestra. History The form developed in the late seventeenth century, although the name was not used at first. Alessandro Stradella seems to have written the first music in which two groups of different sizes are combined in the characteristic way. The name was first used by Giovanni Lorenzo Gregori in a set of ten compositions published in Lucca in 1698. The first major composer to use the term ''concerto grosso'' was Arcangelo Corelli. After Corelli's death, a collection of twelve of his ''concerti grossi'' was published. Not long after, composers such as Francesco Geminiani, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Giuseppe Tartini
Giuseppe Tartini (8 April 1692 – 26 February 1770) was an Italian composer and violinist of the Baroque era born in Pirano in the Republic of Venice (now Piran, Slovenia). Tartini was a prolific composer, composing over a hundred pieces for the violin, the majority of them violin concertos. He is best remembered for his Violin Sonata in G Minor (the Devil's Trill Sonata). Early life Tartini was born on 8 April 1692 in Pirano (today part of Slovenia), a town on the peninsula of Istria, in the Republic of Venice to Gianantonio – native of Florence – and Caterina Zangrando, a descendant of one of the oldest aristocratic Piranese families. It appears Tartini's parents intended him to become a Franciscan friar and, in this way, he received basic musical training. Tartini studied violin first at the ''collegio delle Scuole Pie'' in Capodistria (today Koper). He studied law at the University of Padua, where he became skilled at Fencing (sport), fencing. After his father's death ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
San Francesco, Lucca
San Francesco is a former Gothic-style Roman Catholic church and monastery located in Piazza San Francesco in central Lucca, Tuscany, Italy. Since its restoration, it has become the home of the IMT School for Advanced Studies Lucca, a superior graduate school. History Members of the Franciscan order were present since 1228, but the church as we see it dates from the 14th century. The church, built out of gravel, has an aisle-less with a trussed roof. It was completed in the early 15th century with the inclusion of three apsidal chapels. The façade, which has two arches either side of the doorway, adopted a coat of white limestone, which remained incomplete, and was completed only in the 20th century. The care taken with the interior design is in parallel with the construction of the complex, which took from the 14th century to the 17th century. Among the tomb monuments in the interior is the monument to Bishop Giovanni Guidiccioni and a lapidary monument to the Condottiero ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Dublin
Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, part of the Wicklow Mountains range. Dublin is the largest city by population on the island of Ireland; at the 2022 census of Ireland, 2022 census, the city council area had a population of 592,713, while the city including suburbs had a population of 1,263,219, County Dublin had a population of 1,501,500. Various definitions of a metropolitan Greater Dublin Area exist. A settlement was established in the area by the Gaels during or before the 7th century, followed by the Vikings. As the Kingdom of Dublin grew, it became Ireland's principal settlement by the 12th century Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland. The city expanded rapidly from the 17th century and was briefly the second largest in the British Empire and sixth largest in Western Europ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, fourth-most populous city in the European Union and the List of cities proper by population density, 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2022. Since the 17th century, Paris has been one of the world's major centres of finance, diplomacy, commerce, culture, Fashion capital, fashion, and gastronomy. Because of its leading role in the French art, arts and Science and technology in France, sciences and its early adoption of extensive street lighting, Paris became known as the City of Light in the 19th century. The City of Paris is the centre of the Île-de-France region, or Paris Region, with an official estimated population of 12,271,794 inhabitants in January 2023, or ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Cecilia Young
Cecilia Young (also Cecilia Arne) (January 1712 – 6 October 1789) was one of the greatest English sopranos of the eighteenth century, the wife of composer Thomas Arne, and the mother of composer Michael Arne. According to the music historian Charles Burney, she had "a good natural voice and a fine shake ndhad been so well taught, that her style of singing was infinitely superior to that of any other English woman of her time". She was part of a well-known English family of musicians that included several professional singers and organists. Young enjoyed a large amount of success through her close association with George Frideric Handel. She appeared in several of his oratorios and operas including the premieres of ''Ariodante'' (1735), ''Alcina'' (1735), '' Alexander's Feast'' (1736) and ''Saul'' (1739).Olive Baldwin, Thelma Wilson: "Cecilia Young", ''Grove Music Online'' ed. L. Macy (Accessed 9 January 2009)(subscription access) Biography Early life, education, and early car ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Bernhard Joachim Hagen
Bernhard Joachim Hagen (April 1720 in or near Hamburg (?) – 9 December 1787 in Ansbach) was a German composer, lutenist and violinist. He was the last important composer of lute music in 18th-century Germany. Life Little is known about his youth, but he grew up in a musical family; his brother Peter Albrecht Hagen (also called Peter Albert van Hagen, 1714 - 12 September 1777) studied the violin with Francesco Geminiani, learned to play the lute and organ, and was an organist in Rotterdam. There are several transcriptions of Geminiani's violin works for lute by J.B. Hagen extant. The younger Bernhard Joachim Hagen must have learned to play lute and violin early too, for in 1737 he was already employed as an assistant to Bayreuth violin virtuoso and Kapellmeister Johann Pfeiffer; later he was listed officially as a court violinist. He kept this position at the Bayreuth and since 1769 the Ansbach court until his death. Adam Falckenhagen and Charles Durant (Karol Duranowski), als ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Michael Christian Festing
Michael Christian Festing (29 November 1705 – 24 July 1752) was an English violinist and composer. His reputation lies mostly on his work as a violin virtuoso. Biography Michael Christian Festing was born in London to parents John and Elizabeth Festing and christened at St Anne's Church, Soho, on 17 December 1705. Some evidence suggests that his family had ties to Gros Festin, near Stralsund in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. Michael's brother, John Festing, was a flautist and oboist who amassed a sizeable fortune through teaching music. His brother is most likely the musician depicted in William Hogarth's painting ''The Enraged Musician'' (1741, now in the Tate Britain, London).Melanie Groundsell: "Michael Christian Festing", ''Grove Music Online'' ed. L. Macy (Accessed 19 January 2009)(subscription access) Festing first studied violin with Richard Jones and then later became a pupil of Francesco Geminiani. He made his professional debut on 6 March 1723 performing a concer ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Matthew Dubourg
Matthew Dubourg (1703 – 3 July 1767) was an English violinist, conductor, and composer who spent most of his life in Ireland. Among other achievements, Dubourg led the orchestra at the premiere of Georg Friedrich Handel's great oratorio ''Messiah''. Biography Dubourg was born in London, the illegitimate son of a court dancing master, his mother's identity is unknown. In 1712, at age 9, he performed a Corelli sonata standing on a stool at the home of Thomas Britton. At age 11, in 1714, he furthered his studies under the celebrated Italian violinist, composer and music theorist Francesco Geminiani. He performed a sonata at the Queen's Theatre in March 1714, a benefit concert in May at Hickford's Room, as well as many other performances during the London season.Ford, A. (2004)Dubourg, Matthew (1703–1767), violinist and composer Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Retrieved 10 July 2021 (subscription or UK public library membership required). On 17 June 1727 he marrie ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Charles Avison
Charles Avison (; 16 February 1709 (baptised)9 or 10 May 1770) was an English composer during the Baroque and Classical periods. He was a church organist at St John The Baptist Church in Newcastle and at St Nicholas's Church (later Newcastle Cathedral). He is most known for his ''12 Concerti Grossi after Scarlatti'' and his ''Essay on Musical Expression'', the first music criticism published in English. He composed in a transitional style that alternated between Baroque and Classical idioms. Life The son of Richard and Anne Avison, Charles Avison was baptised on 16 February 1709, at St John the Baptist Church, in Newcastle. According to '' The New Grove Dictionary'', he was also born in this city. His educational history, though unclear, could have been at one of the two charity schools serving St John's parish. Some sources claim that Charles was the fifth of nine children, while others claim that he was the seventh of ten children. Regardless, Avison was born into a famil ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
