Six Quartets for Flute and String

Bartolomeo Campagnoli (Cento, Ferrara 1751 – Neusterlitz 1827) is known today above all as the author of the “Nouvelle méthode de la mécanique progressive du jeu de violon”, one of the best treatises of his time and the inspiration to entire generations of violinists.
Moreover, Campagnoli wrote a significant part of his own compositions for didactic purposes (see, for example, his Preludi op. 12, Divertissements op. 18 or 101 pezzi facili e progressivi op. 20).
The son of a rich merchant, Campagnoli completed his first musical training in Bologna and Modena.
In 1771 he transferred to Florence where he studied with Nardini and became friends with Cherubini.
The need to expand his own musical culture, as well as the desire to measure himself against the best musicians of his time led him to travel frequently to different cities: Venice, Rome, Faenza, Florence and Padua, where he settled for some months to study with Tartini.
From 1776, Campagnoli’s career developed primarily in Germany.
His concerts as a soloist and his orchestral playing as first violin surprised and charmed both audiences and players alike.
Indeed, as Campagnoli himself writes in a letter, one day his colleagues told him that “no one can play better than me, and they thought: here is an artist on the violin with German knowledge and an Italian soul.
”This synthesis of styles was made possible by the numerous concerts given in the principal cities of Germany as well as by the posts he held as Konzertmeister for Brass Instruments in Freysingen (1776) and (from 1779) as director of music at the court of the Duke of Courland in Dresden.