Giuseppe Torelli (22 April 1658 – 8 February 1709) was an Italian

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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,

teacher A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching. ''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. w ...

, and composer of the middle Baroque era. Torelli is most remembered for contributing to the development of the instrumental concerto., especially

concerti grossi The concerto grosso (; Italian for ''big concert(o)'', plural ''concerti grossi'' ) is a form of baroque music in which the musical material is passed between a small group of soloists (the '' concertino'') and full orchestra (the ''ripieno'', ''t ...

and the solo concerto, for strings and continuo, as well as being the most prolific Baroque composer for

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standar ...

Life

Torelli was born in

Verona Verona ( , ; vec, Verona or ) is a city on the Adige River in Veneto, Italy, with 258,031 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region. It is the largest city municipality in the region and the second largest in nor ...

. 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. On 27 June 1684, at the age of 26, he became a member of the Accademia Filarmonica as ''suonatore di violino''. He was employed as a viola player at the

San Petronio basilica The Basilica of San Petronio is a minor basilica and church of the Archdiocese of Bologna located in Bologna, Emilia Romagna, northern Italy. It dominates Piazza Maggiore. The basilica is dedicated to the patron saint of the city, Saint Petr ...

beginning in 1686, where he stayed until 1695. or January 1696. when the orchestra was discontinued because of financial constraints. On 1687 Giuseppe Corsi da Celano played Torelli's music, from Op. 3, in Parma at the Sanctuary of Santa Maria della Steccata. By 1698 he was ''maestro di concerto'' at the court of

Georg Friedrich II, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach George Frederick II, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach (3 May 1678 – 29 March 1703), 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 Bade ...

, where he conducted the orchestra for ''Le pazzie d'amore e dell'interesse'', an ''idea drammatica'' composed by the ''maestro di cappella'', and the castrato Francesco Antonio Pistocchi, before leaving for Vienna in December 1699. 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. He died at age 50 on 8 February 1709 in Bologna, where his manuscripts are conserved in the San Petronio archives. Giuseppe's brother, Felice Torelli, was a Bolognese painter of modest reputation, who went on to be a founding member of the

Accademia Clementina The Accademia di Belle Arti di Bologna ("academy of fine arts of Bologna") is a public tertiary academy of fine art in Bologna, in Emilia-Romagna in northern Italy. It has a campus in Cesena. Giorgio Morandi taught engraving at the Acc ...

. The most notable amongst Giuseppe's many pupils was

Francesco Manfredini Francesco Onofrio Manfredini (22 June 1684 – 6 October 1762) 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 P ...

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. 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.

Selected recordings

*Cantata "Lumi dolenti lumi" on ''Agitata'' Delphine Galou, Accademia Bizantina, Ottavio Dantone, Alpha. 2017

References

Sources

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External links