Francesco Geminiani
The most brilliant violinist of his generation, whose finely-crafted compositions showed off bravura and spoke tenderness.
1687-1762
The most brilliant violinist of his generation, whose finely-crafted compositions showed off bravura and spoke tenderness.
1687-1762
Francesco Geminiani (1687-1762) was overshadowed in the country of his birth by Antonio Vivaldi, and in his adopted nation by George Frideric Handel. He deserves recognition, though, both as a brilliant violinist who challenged his fellow performers to surpass themselves, and as a composer of high merit in his own right.
‘THE intention of musick’, wrote Francesco Geminiani in 1751, ‘is not only to please the ear, but to express sentiments, strike the imagination, affect the mind, and command the passions’. He had spent the last thirty-seven years doing just that, delighting audiences from London to Dublin and the near Continent.
Born in Lucca, Geminiani moved to London in 1714, aged twenty-seven. He was instantly recognised as one of the finest violinists of his generation, and a credit to his illustrious teacher, Arcangelo Corelli. Two years later, he gave a command performance for King George I, with Handel at the keyboard, and subsequently travelled Europe and the British Isles playing his own expertly crafted compositions with a blend of breathtaking technique and tender, yearning pathos.
Pupils included nobility, and fellow professionals such as Charles Avison, leading light of a lively music scene in Newcastle-upon-Tyne; many more pored over his treatises on performance and musical taste. Francesco died during a stay in Ireland in 1762, aged seventy-four.
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Suggest answers to this question. See if you can limit one answer to exactly seven words.
When did Geminiani settle in England?
In 1714, at the age of twenty-seven.
Express the ideas below in a single sentence, using different words as much as possible. Do not be satisfied with the first answer you think of; think of several, and choose the best.
Geminiani was born in Italy. He settled in London in 1714. Some said he was the best violinist in Europe.