Andrea Teodoro Zani (11 November 1696 – 28 September 1757) was an Italian

violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...

ist and

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

Life

Zani was born at

Casalmaggiore Casalmaggiore ( Casalasco-Viadanese: ) is a ''comune'' in the province of Cremona, Lombardy, Italy, located on the Po River. It was the birthplace of Italian composers Ignazio Donati and Andrea Zani. Recently, its women's volleyball team Volleyb ...

in the

Province of Cremona The province of Cremona (; Cremunés dialect, Cremunés: ; ; Emilian dialects, Casalasco-Viadanese: ) is a Provinces of Italy, province in the Lombardy region of Italy. Its capital city is Cremona. The province occupies the central section of Pa ...

. He received his first instruction in playing the

from his father, an amateur violinist. Subsequently, he received instruction in

composition Composition or Compositions may refer to: Arts and literature *Composition (dance), practice and teaching of choreography * Composition (language), in literature and rhetoric, producing a work in spoken tradition and written discourse, to include ...

from Giacomo Civeri, a local musician, and studied violin in

Guastalla Guastalla ( Guastallese: ) is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Reggio Emilia in Emilia-Romagna, Italy. Geography Guastalla is situated in the Po Valley, and lies on the banks of the Po River. Guastalla is located at around from the citi ...

with the court violinist Carlo Ricci.

Antonio Caldara Antonio Caldara ( – 28 December 1736) was an Italian Baroque composer. Life Caldara was born in Venice (exact date unknown), the son of a violinist. He became a chorister at St Mark's in Venice, where he learned several instruments, probab ...

, who was working as Capellmeister at the court of Archduke Ferdinand Charles in

Mantua Mantua ( ; ; Lombard language, Lombard and ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Italian region of Lombardy, and capital of the Province of Mantua, eponymous province. In 2016, Mantua was designated as the "Italian Capital of Culture". In 2 ...

, not far from Casalmaggiore, heard Zani play and invited him to accompany him to

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

. Between 1727 and 1729 Zani arrived in Vienna and was active there as a violinist in the service of the

Habsburgs The House of Habsburg (; ), also known as the House of Austria, was one of the most powerful dynasties in the history of Europe and Western civilization. They were best known for their inbreeding and for ruling vast realms throughout Europe d ...

. Following the death of his sponsor Caldara in 1736, he returned to Casalmaggiore where he remained for the rest of his life, except for occasional concert appearances. He died in his home town as the result of an accident, when the carriage in which he was travelling to Mantua overturned.

Style and significance

Zani's works show the influence of

Antonio Vivaldi Antonio Lucio Vivaldi (4 March 1678 – 28 July 1741) was an Italian composer, virtuoso violinist, impresario of Baroque music and Roman Catholic priest. Regarded as one of the greatest Baroque composers, Vivaldi's influence during his lif ...

, but are somewhat less sweeping. His op. 2, published in 1729, is of great historical importance because it is the earliest dated source of

symphonies A symphony is an extended musical composition in Western classical music, most often for orchestra. Although the term has had many meanings from its origins in the ancient Greek era, by the late 18th century the word had taken on the meaning c ...

that present no ambiguities of genre. His late works clearly exhibit a casting off of

baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

elements in favor of early classical ones.

Compositions

*''12 Sonate da camera'', op.1 (probably Casalmaggiore, 1727) (Reprinted in Paris as Sonates a violino solo e basso da camera, op. 3) *''Sei sinfonie da camera e altretanti concerti da chiesa a quattro strumenti'', op. 2 (Casalmaggiore, 1729) *''Concerti Dodici a quattro con i suoi ripieni'', op. 4 (Vienna, 1735) *''Sonate 12 a violino e basso intitolate "pensieri armonici"'', op. 5 (Vienna, 1735) *''Sonate a violino e basso'', op. 6 (Paris, 1740) *In addition, there are numerous manuscripts found in libraries scattered throughout Europe, including three concertos and one sonata for flute, at least twelve concertos for cello, six trio sonatas for two violins and continuo, as well as several violin concertos and symphonies.

Sources

*Larue, Jan, and Eugene K. Wolf. "Symphony, §I: 18th century". ''Grove Music Online'' ed. L. Macy (Accessed 17 February 2007) *

External links

* *Villa, Marcello. 2002
"Andrea Zani"
Copyright © 2002 MVCremona. *Complete Cello Concertos performed by Martin Rummel {{DEFAULTSORT:Zani, Andrea Italian Baroque composers Italian classical violinists Composers for violin 1696 births 1757 deaths Italian male classical violinists People from Casalmaggiore Italian male classical composers 18th-century Italian composers 18th-century Italian male musicians