# Rare composers - Pandolfi Mealli, Giovanni (1629-1679) - Discussion



## Mozartino (Jan 17, 2020)

*Pandolfi Mealli, Giovanni (1629-1679) - Violin Sonatas - Manze, Egarr, Jacobs - 2006
*

_We knew very little about Giovanni Antonio Pandolfi Mealli, even though the curiosity was always enormous after knowing the already mythical myriad and magnificent recordings that Andrew Manze gave to the world in the nineties. But only a few years ago, amazing news about his biography was discovered and presented. Tuscan of origin, Pandolfi worked for the court of Innsbruck and Archduke Segismundo Francisco, the sonatas dedicated to this album and, therefore, the protagonist of the cover. Then he returned to Italy and settled in Sicila, but an altercation with a castrate, Giovanni Marquett, would change things completely. The causes of such a violent reaction are unknown; the violinist, in a scene in the Duomo of Messina worthy of the script of a movie, ended up laying the metal of his sword on the infamous singer. He cut his life. Overnight, our phantasticus hero unveiled cruel murderer: a good opportunity to practice aesthetic distancing, as with Gesualdo; or, the pure historical morbidity, what not to say. The most curious consequence of the event is that, with his escape, Pandolfi stressed in the Madrid of the Habsburgs, he was linked to the Royal Chapel and so he ended his days, in Spain. All these unusual data, along with the recent editions of his works - although unfortunately meager in number - will undoubtedly increase interest in those who already go through being a must of the music of Seicento._

https://www.naxos.com/person/Giovanni_Antonio_Pandolfi_Mealli/16129.htm

https://zudakas.blogspot.com/2020/01/pandolfi-mealli-giovanni-1629-1679.html


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