VIOTTI GIOVAN BATTISTA

The complex figure of the violinist and composer from Vercelli Giovanbattista Viotti may be placed within the vast musical panorama, which falls between the second half of the eighteenth and the early nineteenth centuries.
Piedmont, and in particular the provinces of Turin and Vercelli, were home to a fruitful tradition of violin playing, championed by such exponents as Pugnani and Sonis.
Viotti himself was Pugnani’s pupil, and through his teacher he had the opportunity to assimilate the compositional style of Arcangelo Corelli.
This style was marked by a more expressive treatment of the violin as opposed to a merely virtuosic one.
The eighteenth century was without question the period in which this instrument continued its triumphant ascent on the musical scene, and Italian artists—-violinists as well as singers—-were veritable goods for export throughout Europe.
It is thus easy to understand how, at the tender age of twenty; Viotti was already following in the steps of his teacher Gaetano Pugani by traveling to the most significant musical centers of the time.
He was active in Geneva, Dresden and Berlin, and later even in Poland and Russia, where he performed in the presence of Catherine II.
The complex figure of the violinist and composer from Vercelli Giovanbattista Viotti may be placed within the vast musical panorama, which falls between the second half of the eighteenth and the early nineteenth centuries.
Piedmont, and in particular the provinces of Turin and Vercelli, were home to a fruitful tradition of violin playing, championed by such exponents as Pugnani and Sonis.
Viotti himself was Pugnani’s pupil, and through his teacher he had the opportunity to assimilate the compositional style of Arcangelo Corelli.
This style was marked by a more expressive treatment of the violin as opposed to a merely virtuosic one.
The eighteenth century was without question the period in which this instrument continued its triumphant ascent on the musical scene, and Italian artists—-violinists as well as singers—-were veritable goods for export throughout Europe.
It is thus easy to understand how, at the tender age of twenty; Viotti was already following in the steps of his teacher Gaetano Pugani by traveling to the most significant musical centers of the time.
He was active in Geneva, Dresden and Berlin, and later even in Poland and Russia, where he performed in the presence of Catherine II.