Geminiani: Concerti Grossi, Vol. 2

Capella

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Cat No: 8553020

Release Date: 12 January 1999

Label: Naxos - Nxc / Naxos Classics

Packaging Type: Jewel Case

No of Units: 1

Barcode: 730099402026

Genres: Classical

Composer/Series: GEMINIANI

Description
Francesco Geminiani (1687-1762) Concerti Grossi Vol. 2 Op.3, Nos. 5 & 6 ? Op.7, Nos. 1-6 The violinist and composer Francesco Geminiani was one of thoseItalian musicians who found a ready livelihood in England in the first half of theeighteenth century. Born in Lucca, probably in 1687, he was a pupil of Corelli and ofAlessandro Scarlatti in Rome, after earlier violin lessons from his father, whom hesucceeded in Lucca in 1707 in the Capella Palatina, the principal musical establishment ofthe city. He was released from his obligations there in 1710, as a result of the allegedfrequency of his absences, and led the opera orchestra in Naples from the following year.Here he was referred to as furibondo, reference to a tendency to freedom in rhythm that was not always welcome, a trait perhapsacquired from his teacher Corelli, who had had his own problems in Naples. According toCharles Burney, who cannot always be trusted in these matters, he was demoted to the violasection for his remaining time in Naples. In 1714 Geminiani moved to London, where heenjoyed immediate success as a performer and the patronage of Johann Adolf Baron vonKielmansegg, the Hanoverian courtier who had been instrumental in bringing Handel toHanover and helping to establish him in England. Geminiani dedicated his first set of adozen violin sonatas to von Kielmansegg in 1716 and was indebted to the Master of theKing's Horse for his introduction to the court of King George I, before whom he played,accompanied, at his own insistence, by Handel.Geminiani won the support of a number of the nobility inEngland and exercised very considerable influence also through his pupils, including theyoung violinist Matthew Dubourg, who spent a considerable part of his life in Dublin,where he led the orchestra at the first performance of Handel's Messiah,Michael Festing, later Master of the King's Musick, and the Newcastle composer CharlesAvison. Charles Burney, whatever his later thoughts on the subject, admits in a letter of1781 that as a young man "Handel, Geminiani and Corelli were the sole Divinities of[his] Youth", although he was later "drawn off from their exclusive worship . ..by keeping company with travelled and heterodox gentlemen , who were partial to the Musicof more modern composers whom they had heard in Italy". Indebted as he was to his ownteacher Corelli, Geminiani derived his own style of writing largely from him. Evidence ofthis may be seen in his publication in 1726 and 1727 of Corelli's twelve violin sonatas asconcerti grossi. Through the agency of the Earl of Essex it was proposed in 1728 thatGeminiani should become Master and Composer of State Music in Ireland, but from thisposition he was, as a Catholic, excluded and the honour went instead to his pupil Dubourg.In London Geminiani continued teaching and performing, takingpart in series of subscription concerts and in 1732 publishing two sets of concertigrossi, Opus 2 and Opus 3. He extended his activities, at the same time,to
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