Giuseppe Torelli
Encyclopedia
Giuseppe Torelli was an Italian violist
Violist
-Notable violists:A* Julia Rebekka Adler * Sir Hugh Allen , conductor* Kris Allen * Johann Andreas Amon * Paul Angerer , composer* Steven Ansell * Atar Arad * Cecil Aronowitz...

, violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....

ist, teacher
Teacher
A teacher or schoolteacher is a person who provides education for pupils and students . The role of teacher is often formal and ongoing, carried out at a school or other place of formal education. In many countries, a person who wishes to become a teacher must first obtain specified professional...

, and composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...

.

Torelli is most remembered for his contributions to the development of the instrumental concerto
Concerto
A concerto is a musical work usually composed in three parts or movements, in which one solo instrument is accompanied by an orchestra.The etymology is uncertain, but the word seems to have originated from the conjunction of the two Latin words...

 (Newman 1972, p. 142), especially concerti grossi
Concerto grosso
The concerto grosso is a form of baroque music in which the musical material is passed between a small group of soloists and full orchestra...

 and the solo concerto
Solo concerto
A solo concerto is a concerto in which a single soloist is accompanied by an orchestra. It is the most frequent type of concerto. It originated in the Baroque Period as an alternative to the traditional concertino in a concerto grosso.A typical concerto has three movements, traditionally fast,...

, for strings and continuo, as well as being the most prolific Baroque
Baroque
The Baroque is a period and the style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, literature, dance, and music...

 composer for trumpet
Trumpet
The trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...

s (Tarr 1974).

Torelli was born in Verona
Verona
Verona ; German Bern, Dietrichsbern or Welschbern) is a city in the Veneto, northern Italy, with approx. 265,000 inhabitants and one of the seven chef-lieus of the region. It is the second largest city municipality in the region and the third of North-Eastern Italy. The metropolitan area of Verona...

. It is not known with whom he studied violin though it has been speculated that he was a pupil of Leonardo Brugnoli or Bartolomeo Laurenti, but it is certain that he studied composition with Giacomo Antonio Perti
Giacomo Antonio Perti
Giacomo Antonio Perti was an Italian composer of the Baroque era. He was mainly active at Bologna, where he was Maestro di Cappella for sixty years...

 (Schnoebelen and Vanscheeuwijk 2001). On June 27, 1684, at the age of 26, he became a member of the Accademia Filarmonica as suonatore di violino (Schnoebelen and Vanscheeuwijk 2001). By 1698 he was maestro di concerto at the court of Georg Friedrich II, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach
Georg Friedrich II, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach
George Frederick II, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach , known as George Frederick the Younger, the third son of John Frederick, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach by his first wife the Margravine Joanna Elisabeth of Baden-Durlach , succeeded his elder brother as Margrave of Ansbach in 1692.In the...

, where he conducted the orchestra for Le pazzie d'amore e dell'interesse, an idea drammatica composed by the maestro di cappella, the castrato Francesco Antonio Pistocchi
Francesco Antonio Pistocchi
Francesco Antonio Mamiliano Pistocchi nicknamed Pistocchino was an Italian singer, composer and librettist.Pistocchino was born in Palermo. He was a boy soprano prodigy, and later made his career as a castrato. From 1696 to 1700 he was maestro di cappella for the Duke of Ansbach. After 1700 he...

, before leaving for Vienna in December 1699 (Schnoebelen and Vanscheeuwijk 2001). He returned to Bologna sometime before February (1701), when he is listed as a violinist in the newly re-formed cappella musicale at San Petronio, directed by his former composition teacher Perti (Schnoebelen and Vanscheeuwijk 2001).

He died in Bologna in 1709, where his manuscripts are conserved in the San Petronio archives.
Giuseppe's brother, Felice Torelli
Felice Torelli
Felice Torelli was an Italian painter of the Baroque style, active mainly in Bologna.He was born to a family of artists in Verona, including his brother, Giuseppe Torelli, a noted violinist and composer of concerti. Both his son, Stefano Torelli, and his wife, Lucia Casalini , were painters. His...

, was a Bolognese painter of modest reputation, who went on to be a founding member of the Accademia Clementina. The most notable amongst Giuseppe's many pupils was Francesco Manfredini
Francesco Manfredini
Francesco Onofrio Manfredini was an Italian Baroque composer, violinist, and church musician.He was born at Pistoia to a trombonist. He studied violin with Giuseppe Torelli in Bologna, then a part of the Papal States, a leading figure in the development of the concerto grosso...

.

Selected works

  • 10 Sonate a 3, with Basso Continuo, op. 1 (1686).
  • 12 Concerto da camera, for 2 violins and basso continuo, op. 2 (1686).
  • 12 Sinfonie, for 2–4 instruments, op. 3 (1687).
  • 12 Concertino per camera for Violin and Cello, op. 4 (1688).
  • 12 Sinfonie a 3 e concerti a 4, op. 5 (1692).
  • 12 Concerti musicali a quattro, op. 6 (1698).
  • 12 Concerti grossi con una pastorale per il Santissimo Natale, op. 8 (1709).
  • More than 30 concertos for 1 to 4 trumpets, including a Sinfonia à 4, composed after 1702 (Tarr 1974) and unpublished during his lifetime, which is a concerto for four trumpets, with an orchestra requiring a minimum of four oboes, two bassoons, trombone, timpani, four violins, two violas, four cellos, two double basses, and continuo.

Sources

  • Bukofzer, Manfred F. 1947. Music in the Baroque Era: From Monteverdi to Bach. New York: W. W. Norton.
  • Newman, William S. 1972. The Sonata in the Baroque Era. New York: W. W. Norton.
  • Schnoebelen, Ann, and Marc Vanscheeuwijk. 2001. "Torelli, Giuseppe." The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, ed. S. Sadie and J. Tyrrell. London: Macmillan.
  • Tarr, Edward H. 1974. Unpaginated editorial notes to his edition of Giuseppe Torelli, Sinfonia a 4, G. 33, in C major. London: Musica Rara.

External links

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