Achille Simonetti (12 June 1857 – 19 November 1928) was a prominent Italian

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 regular ...

ist and

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

, mainly resident in England and Ireland. He was mainly known as a chamber musician and teacher.

Life

Born in

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese language, Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital ...

on 12 June 1857, Simonetti left his family in

Bologna Bologna (, , ; egl, label= Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nat ...

(this can be gleaned from his letter to Mr Hill (of Hills and Sons) written in 1922,) and completed his studies under Francesco Bianchi,

Eugenio Cavallini Eugenio Cavallini (16 June 1806 — 11 April 1881) was an Italian conductor, composer, violinist, and Viola, violist. In 1833 he became first violinist of the orchestra at La Scala, a post he held through 1855. He also served as a conductor at La ...

, Giuseppe Gamba,

Charles Dancla (Jean Baptiste) Charles Dancla (19 December 1817 – 10 October 1907) was a French violinist, composer and teacher. Biography Dancla was born in Bagnères-de-Bigorre. When he was nine years old, violinist Pierre Rode in Bordeaux heard his music; ...

(regarded as the last exponent of the classical French school of violin playing), and Camillo Sivori, the last pupil of Niccolo Paganini. Simonetti died aged 71 in London on 19 November 1928.

Career

Simonetti came to England in 1891,Pine, Richard & Charles Acton (eds.): ''To Talent Alone. The Royal Irish Academy of Music, 1848–1998'' (Dublin: Gill & Macmillan, 1998), 460–1. embarking on a career as chamber musician. He became part of the first London Trio, an endeavour which occupied him from 1901 to 1912, along with cellist William Whitehouse and pianist

Amina Goodwin Aminatu (also Amina; died 1610) was a Hausa Muslim historical figure in the city-state Zazzau (now city of Zaria in Kaduna State), in what is now in the north-west region of Nigeria. She might have ruled in the mid-sixteenth century. A controve ...

. From 1912 to 1919, he was a professor of violin at the

Royal Irish Academy of Music The Royal Irish Academy of Music (RIAM) in Dublin, Ireland, is one of Europe's oldest music conservatoires, specialising in classical music and the Irish harp. It is located in a Georgian building on Westland Row in Dublin. An institution whic ...

, and served as a teacher for many distinguished violinists, including

Walter Starkie Walter Fitzwilliam Starkie CMG, CBE, Litt.D (9 August 1894 – 2 November 1976) was an Irish scholar, Hispanist, writer and musician. His reputation is principally based on his popular travel writing: ''Raggle-Taggle'' (1933), ''Spanish Raggle ...

. Simonetti was also an early champion of the

Brahms Johannes Brahms (; 7 May 1833 – 3 April 1897) was a German composer, pianist, and conductor of the mid-Romantic period. Born in Hamburg into a Lutheran family, he spent much of his professional life in Vienna. He is sometimes grouped with ...

Violin Concerto A violin concerto is a concerto for solo violin (occasionally, two or more violins) and instrumental ensemble (customarily orchestra). Such works have been written since the Baroque period, when the solo concerto form was first developed, up thro ...

, and wrote a cadenza for the work.

Selected compositions

;Orchestral * ''Ronde joyeuse'' for string orchestra * ''Sérénade'' for string orchestra * ''Meditazione'' for small orchestra ;Chamber music * ''Allegretto Romantico'' in D minor for viola and piano (published 1897) * ''Andante mélancolique'' for violin (or cello) and piano * ''Ballata'' in C minor for viola and piano (published 1897) * ''Berceuse'' for violin and piano * ''Canzonetta'' for violin and piano * ''Capriccio'' for violin and piano * ''Cavatina'' for cello and piano * ''Elegia'' for cello and piano * ''Furlana'', Italian Dance for violin and piano * ''Madrigale'' in D major for violin and piano (1901) - wrote text and music? - (Different?) music has been set to this by

Pietro Floridia Pietro Floridia (5 May 1860 in Modica – 16 August 1932 in New York City) was an Italian composer of classical music. According to David Johnson (quoting the notes, by Luigi della Croce, to the Bongiovanni recording of Floridia's Symphony and ...

. * ''Mazurka'' for violin and piano * ''Minuetto'' for violin and piano * ''Notturnino'' for violin and piano * ''Rêverie'' for violin and piano * ''Romanza'' for violin and piano * ''Romanzetta'' for violin and piano * Sonata No. 2, Op. 9, for violin and piano in C major (published 1894)IMSLP / Hofmeister. * ''Scènes montagnardes'', Op. 12, for violin and piano * String Quartet No. 1 in D minor, Op. 14 (published 1904) * String Quartet No. 2 in B flat major, Op. 16 (published c.1904) ;Piano * ''Caprice-Mazurka'' for piano * ''Trois Morceaux caractéristiques'' (3 Character Pieces) for piano

References

External links

* 1857 births 1928 deaths 19th-century Italian musicians 19th-century Italian male musicians Italian classical composers Italian classical violinists Italian emigrants to the United Kingdom Italian male classical composers Male classical violinists Musicians from Turin {{Italy-composer-stub