Antonio Veracini (17 January 1659 – 26 October 1733) was an Italian
composer and
violin
The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...
ist of the
Baroque era.
Veracini was born in
Florence
Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico ...
, Italy, the eldest son of Francesco di Niccolò Veracini, a noted violinist who ran a music school, and from whom Antonio first learned to play the violin. When his father's health began to fail around 1708, Antonio took over the running of the school, where he taught the violin to (amongst others) his nephew
Francesco Maria Veracini
Francesco Maria Veracini (1 February 1690 – 31 October 1768) was an Italian composer and violinist, perhaps best known for his sets of violin sonatas. As a composer, according to Manfred Bukofzer, "His individual, if not subjective, style has ...
(1690–1768), later a celebrated violinist and composer in his own right. Unlike his nephew, who travelled widely, Antonio rarely left Florence. He did visit Rome on two occasions, where he is believed to have met
Arcangelo Corelli
Arcangelo Corelli (, also , , ; 17 February 1653 – 8 January 1713) was an Italian composer and violinist of the Baroque era. His music was key in the development of the modern genres of sonata and concerto, in establishing the preeminence o ...
, and in 1720 he briefly visited Vienna .
Antonio Veracini died in 1733, aged 74.
Compositions
The only surviving compositions by Veracini are the three printed editions of his chamber music:
*Sonate a tre
0 for 2 violins, viol or archlute, and basso continuo (for the organ), Op. 1 (Florence, 1692)
*Sonate da camera
0 for solo violin, Op. 2 (Modena, c.1694)
*Sonate da camera a due
0 for violin, viol or archlute, and basso continuo (for the harpsichord), Op. 3 (Modena, 1696)
He is known to have composed at least three
oratorio
An oratorio () is a large musical composition for orchestra, choir, and soloists. Like most operas, an oratorio includes the use of a choir, soloists, an instrumental ensemble, various distinguishable characters, and arias. However, opera is mus ...
s, but only the printed
librettos survive .
Sources
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Further reading
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External links
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1659 births
1733 deaths
Italian Baroque composers
Italian male classical composers
Italian musicians
18th-century Italian composers
18th-century Italian male musicians
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