John Ravenscroft (c. 1665 – 12 October 1697), also known as Giovanni Ravenscroft and Giovanni Rederi, was an English
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 and composer of the
Baroque era, who moved to
Rome
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus ( legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
, map_caption ...
. He was possibly a pupil of
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 ...
, by whom he was strongly influenced, and around the middle of the 18th century some of Ravenscroft's
trio sonata
The trio sonata is a genre, typically consisting of several movements, with two melody instruments and basso continuo. Originating in the early 17th century, the trio sonata was a favorite chamber ensemble combination in the Baroque era.
Basic s ...
s were misattributed to Corelli. He is not to be confused with the English
wait
Wait or WAIT may refer to:
Music
* Wait (musician), British town pipers
Albums and EPs
* ''Wait'' (The Polyphonic Spree EP), by The Polyphonic Spree
* ''Wait'' (Emanuel Nice EP), a 2002 EP released by the band Emanuel Nice
* ''Wait'' (Stee ...
John Ravenscroft (
fl.
''Floruit'' (; abbreviated fl. or occasionally flor.; from Latin for "they flourished") denotes a date or period during which a person was known to have been alive or active. In English, the unabbreviated word may also be used as a noun indicatin ...
c. 1730).
Biography
Ravenscroft was born c. 1665,
[Barbieri and Talbot (2012), abstract] in
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
.
[Barbieri (2011), abstract] He moved to Rome, where in 1695 he published his
Opus
''Opus'' (pl. ''opera'') is a Latin word meaning " work". Italian equivalents are ''opera'' (singular) and ''opere'' (pl.).
Opus or OPUS may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Music
* Opus number, (abbr. Op.) specifying order of (usually) publicati ...
1 under the name "Giovanni Ravenscroft, alias Rederi, Inglese".
[Newman (1957), p. 369]
He died in Rome on 12 October 1697, leaving a collection of 5 violins and 44 paintings.
[
]
Works
Opus 1 consisted of 12 church trio sonatas. A surviving manuscript score simply ascribes them to an English pupil of Arcangelo Corelli,[ and the influence of Corelli's own sonatas is evident.][ Around 1730, claiming them to be early works by Corelli,][Rasch (2005), p. 35] the Amsterdam
Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...
printer Michel-Charles Le Cène
Michel-Charles Le Cène (ca. 1684 Honfleur, France ‐ 29 April 1743 in Amsterdam) was a French printer. His house printed the first editions of works by Vivaldi, Geminiani, Handel, Quantz, Tartini, Telemann and Locatelli, among others. The w ...
published nine of the sonatas from Ravenscroft's Opus 1 with a spurious Corelli opus number of 7.[ The error was pointed out by John Hawkins in 1776 in his ''General History of the Science and Practice of Music'':
Ravenscroft's Opus 2 was published posthumously in London in 1708. It consisted of 6 chamber trio sonatas, of which the last was a ]chaconne
A chaconne (; ; es, chacona, links=no; it, ciaccona, links=no, ; earlier English: ''chacony'') is a type of musical composition often used as a vehicle for variation on a repeated short harmonic progression, often involving a fairly short repe ...
.[Baron (1998), pp. 113–14]
See also
*Robert Valentine (composer)
Robert Valentine (c. 1671 – 26 May 1747), also known as Roberto Valentini and Roberto Valentino, was an English composer, recorder player, oboist and violinist, who moved to Rome and became a naturalised Italian. He is noted for his ...
, Ravenscroft's English contemporary who also moved to Rome.[
]
Notes
References
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External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Ravenscroft, John
1665 births
1697 deaths
English classical composers
English Baroque composers
English classical violinists
British male violinists
17th-century English composers
17th-century classical composers
Composers from London
Composers from Rome
English male classical composers
Male classical violinists
17th-century male musicians