Johann Sebastian Bach’s Sei Solo for unaccompanied violin figure amongst the baroque works on which the performance traditions of the 19th and 20th centuries weigh most heavily. Rediscovered halfway through the 19th century after having been forgotten for more than a century, these works quickly entered the repertoire of works performed by violinists during the Romantic period: from that moment...
Full of fire, spirit, and life”: this description of the Bohemian composer Josef Mysliveček’s character was made by none other than Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, his younger contemporary. Mysliveček (1737-1781) spent his entire career in Italy and committed himself to the life of a freelance composer: he obstinately refused to accept any type of employment in permanent service. Not only did he...
Tartini was a major personality of his period, a virtuoso violinist, a prolific composer, an excellent teacher. His main objective was singularly clear: to train, to master and summon as often as possible the small something that moves the listener on hearing music; the moment we can hear another thousand times, and which will have the same effect on us each time. Tartini termed this la verità...
