# Pietro Antonio Locatelli (1695 - 1754)



## Taggart

Pietro Locatelli may be best known to the modern public for a piece that does not actually exist. Master and Commander, the first novel in Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey-Maturin series, begins with the famous line: 'The music-room in the governor's house at Port Mahon, a tall, handsome, pillared octagon, was filled with the triumphant first movement of Locatelli's C major quartet.' In fact, Locatelli is not known to have written any quartets.

Locatelli was born in Bergamo. Little is known of his early life. He held the title of virtuoso in the musical establishment of the church of Santa Maria Maggiore in Bergamo. In 1711, at the age of 16 he moved to Rome to take advantage of the abundance of musical activities offered by its many chapels and private academies.

In 1723, he began his travels through Italy and Germany. Little is known of this period. He was named virtuoso da camera at Mantua in 1725, but freely pursued other engagements, including performances at Venice (1725), Bavaria (1727), and Berlin and Kassel (1728).

Most sources state that Locatelli did not like the narrow confines of court and church work and preferred to pursue his own interests. What we do know is that he settled in Amsterdam in 1729 staying there until his death in 1754. Amsterdam had an active cultural life and the prestige of the music publishers. Locatelli was able to devote himself to composition and, above all, to the publication and continual revision of his works.

He participated little in the city's music scene. He had no pupils and never played in public. On Wednesday evenings he did, however, give concerts in private houses, which were highly fashionable among the city's beau monde. Being a master at the violin, Locatelli preferred not to have any professional musicians attend, a suspected reason for which is that he was afraid of their imitating him.

Though his playing was highly praised, some observers found it too brilliant; likewise, the originality of his works was admired, while others criticized a lack of technique and invention. As a composer he focused on the sonata and concerto, achieving a fusion of sorts between the Roman and Venetian styles; his caprices for solo violin in L'arte del violino (Amsterdam, 1733) at one time earned him the title "Paganini of the 18th century." Locatelli's virtuosity is reflected in the Capricci through the use of high registers, double stopping, chords and arpeggios with wide fingering and overextension of the left hand, harmonics, trills in two-part passages, double trills, varied bow types and variable bowings.

Here's an example of the difficulty of his pieces:






This is caprice 23 that was inserted by the composer as the cadenza to the first movement of concerto 12 op. 3.

Sources - wiki, Bach Cantatas


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## RICK RIEKERT

Locatelli had an eleven room house in which he kept his enormous book collection, a large collection of prints and portraits, and several instruments; these included two harpsichords, a fortepiano, four violins (including a Tecchler and a Stainer), a viola, a double bass, and a flute. In 1742 he was the wealthiest musician in Amsterdam with an annual income of 1,500 florins, equal to roughly 100,000 USD today.

His most recent biographer, Fulvio Morabito, sums up Locatelli's character: "a composer, yes, but also a publisher, soloist, teacher, and salesman . . . a freelancer, outside the usual court circles, sheltered from those obsequious conventions incompatible with his proud and irreverent character."


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## Ingélou

Locatelli's Caprices for Solo Violin on YouTube:




(Violinist = Igor Ruhadze)

Brilliant - I am not sure, though, how long I can stay on the sleigh as it whooshes through the crystalline forest. I think Locatelli, as a superhuman violinist, needs a superhuman audience.
His music resembles Crunchy Nut Cornflakes - the trouble is, they taste *too* good. :tiphat:


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## joen_cph

Not collecting that much by him, I've none the less found the _12 Concerti Grossi op.1 _quite good, and I've been pleased with the Warchal/Naxos recording (2 CDs), as well as the Baldini recording of the _Capricci._

Brilliant Classics also has a big box, the Locatelli Complete Edition, of 21 CDs, for completists:¨

http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2016/Apr/Locatelli_complete_94358.htm

MP3 samples currently at 
https://www.jpc.de/jpcng/classic/detail/-/art/complete-edition/hnum/7883053

BTW, I see that Presto has the 6CD Brilliant set of all concerti grossi cheaply right now,
https://www.prestomusic.com/classic...lli-edition-volume-4-complete-concerti-grossi
but recommend listening to the samples from that orchestra, to see if you like it, before any ordering.


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## Torkelburger

I completely forgot about this composer. I've never heard his music before, but first heard the name about 20 to 25 years ago. I had recommended to a colleague of mine to listen to the composer Veracini (one of my top ten favorites still to this day), and upon hearing him he gave me the recommendation of Locatelli. I wrote the name down on a piece of paper but never got around to buying his music or trying to find it. I eventually forgot about him.

Thanks for reminding me after so many years and I will listen to him this week! I look forward to it.


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## Guest

I like his Violin Concertos and his Op.1 Concerto Grossos, especially this recording (both volumes):


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## Torkelburger

I listened last week to some vln concertos and concerto grossos and thoroughly enjoyed them. I've definitely added his name towards the top of my Baroque favorites. He sort of blends elements of Vivaldi and Veracini that I like and is kind of a halfway point between them in a way. I like how the concertos were very different and did not sound like each other. They explored very different techniques. One focused a lot on double and triple stops while the other focused a lot on upper position dexterity and intonation.


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## Vienne

A somewhat underappreciated but very accomplished representative of the Italian late Baroque. His concerti grossi and violin concerti are both polished and playfully original. I’m glad that he has a thread here.


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## alexander13j

> I like his Violin Concertos and his Op.1 Concerto Grossos, especially this recording (both volumes):


Yep, that's a great one!


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## alexander13j

Torkelburger, don't you think that violin playing depends on a good violin itself? I want to get a good and reliable violin for my brother, and simply don't know what exact brand to choose. I've heard a lot of great reviews about Antonio Strad violins and that they produce them with well-aged wood and all of them are professionally set up.


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## Torkelburger

The Frankfurt Radio Symphony performed a lovely Locatelli piece a few weeks ago and posted it on their widely-popular YouTube channel. Very nice.


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