Ignazio Albertini (''Albertino'') (c. 1644 – 22 September 1685) was an Italian Middle

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 ...

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 ...

. Very little is known about Albertini's life. He may have been born in

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, but first surfaces in

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. ...

, in a letter exchange between the famous violinist

Johann Heinrich Schmelzer Johann Heinrich Schmelzer (c. 1620–1623between 29 February and 20 March 1680) was an Austrian composer and violinist of the middle Baroque era. Almost nothing is known about his early years, but he seems to have arrived in Vienna during the 163 ...

of the Viennese court and Karl II von Liechtenstein-Kastelkorn,

Prince-Bishop A prince-bishop is a bishop who is also the civil ruler of some secular principality and sovereignty, as opposed to '' Prince of the Church'' itself, a title associated with cardinals. Since 1951, the sole extant prince-bishop has been the ...

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. Apparently, Albertini was guilty of some sort of misconduct, but both Schmelzer and the Prince-Bishop express their high opinion of him as a musician. The letter exchange dates from September 1671, so by that time Albertini was in Vienna; how he got there and what positions he occupied is unknown. That he was introduced to the Prince-Bishop, a well-known collector of music, and knew Schmelzer, one of the most important musicians at the court, seems to indicate that Albertini was much respected in Vienna. Nothing is known about his career, except that at some point he entered the service of Eleanor Gonzaga, widow of Ferdinand III, as chamber musician, and held that position until his death, which occurred in Vienna on 22 September 1685 when Albertini was murdered. The circumstances of the murder (Albertini was stabbed to death) are unknown. As a composer Albertini is known by a single collection of music, the twelve ''Sonatinae'' (sonatas for violin and

basso continuo Basso continuo parts, almost universal in the Baroque era (1600–1750), provided the harmonic structure of the music by supplying a bassline and a chord progression. The phrase is often shortened to continuo, and the instrumentalists playing th ...

) posthumously published in Vienna and in

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in 1692. The collection was prepared for publication by Albertini himself, but he did not live to see it printed, possibly because of the high cost of the copperplate engraving process. Albertini's sonatas are multi-sectional pieces, very varied in content and structure, and all of the highest quality. Some idea of the rich variety of forms found in the ''Sonatinae'' may be gleaned from the following examples: ''Sonata IX'' is a

passacaglia The passacaglia (; ) is a musical form that originated in early seventeenth-century Spain and is still used today by composers. It is usually of a serious character and is typically based on a bass- ostinato and written in triple metre. Origin Th ...

in which the main theme is presented as a

canon Canon or Canons may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Canon (fiction), the material accepted as officially written by an author or an ascribed author * Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture ** Western canon, th ...

at the fifth in the first and the last sections; and statements of the

ostinato In music, an ostinato (; derived from the Italian word for ''stubborn'', compare English ''obstinate'') is a motif or phrase that persistently repeats in the same musical voice, frequently in the same pitch. Well-known ostinato-based pieces inc ...

sometimes overlap with formal sections of the sonata. ''Sonata XII'', the last in the cycle, consists entirely of imitative movements, unlike other sonatas, in which imitative movements are either absent or are surrounded by free sections, such as slow lyrical arias,

toccata Toccata (from Italian ''toccare'', literally, "to touch", with "toccata" being the action of touching) is a virtuoso piece of music typically for a keyboard or plucked string instrument featuring fast-moving, lightly fingered or otherwise virt ...

-like movements with rapid passagework over sustained bass notes, etc. Albertini's sonatas are very demanding technically, with frequent instances of difficult fast passages, leaps, sudden changes of register and, particularly in the last sonata,

double stop In music, a double stop is the technique of playing two notes simultaneously on a stringed instrument such as a violin, a viola, a cello, or a double bass. On instruments such as the Hardanger fiddle it is common and often employed. In performin ...

ping. Apart from the ''Sonatinae'', two works are known by name from catalogues: ''Sonata hyllaris ex C à 10'' (from a 1699 inventory) and a suite of 7 pieces ''à 4''.

References

* *Drescher, Thomas. Liner notes to: ''Ignazio Albertini: Sonatas For Violin & Continuo''. Performed by Héléne Schmitt (

), Jörg-Andreas Bötticher (

harpsichord A harpsichord is a musical instrument played by means of a musical keyboard, keyboard. Depressing a key raises its back end within the instrument, which in turn raises a mechanism with a small plectrum made from quill or plastic that plucks one ...

organ Organ and organs may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a group of tissues organized to serve a common function * Organ system, a collection of organs that function together to carry out specific functions within the body. Musical instruments ...

), Karl-Ernst Schröder (

theorbo The theorbo is a plucked string instrument of the lute family, with an extended neck that houses the second pegbox. Like a lute, a theorbo has a curved-back sound box with a flat top, typically with one or three sound holes decorated with rose ...

) and David Sinclair (

violone The term violone (; literally 'large viol', being the augmentative suffix) can refer to several distinct large, bowed musical instruments which belong to either the viol or violin family. The violone is sometimes a fretted instrument, and may ...

). Alpha-028 {{DEFAULTSORT:Albertini, Ignazio 1640s births 1685 deaths Italian male classical composers Italian Baroque composers Italian musicians 17th-century Italian composers 17th-century Italian male musicians