A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Locatelli, Pietro

by Paul David

LOCATELLI, Pietro, a celebrated violinist, was born—like Lolli and Piatti—at Bergamo in 1693, and was still very young when he became a pupil of Corelli at Rome. Very little is known of his life, but he appears to have travelled a good deal, and finally to have settled at Amsterdam, where he established regular public concerts, and died in 1764.

There can be no doubt that Locatelli was a great and original virtuoso. As a composer we must distinguish between a number of caprices and études—which he evidently wrote merely for practice, to suit his exceptional powers of execution, and which have no musical value—and the sonatas and concertos, which contain very graceful and pathetic movements, and certainly prove him to have been an excellent musician. In these serious works he certainly shows himself as a worthy disciple of his great master. All the more striking is the contrast when we look at his caprices and études. Here his sole aim appears to have been to endeavour to enlarge the powers of execution on the violin at any price, and no doubt in this respect he has succeeded only too well; for, not content with legitimately developing the natural resources of the instrument, he oversteps all reasonable limits, and aims at effects which, being adverse to the very nature of the violin, are neither beautiful nor musical, but ludicrous and absurd. A striking example of this tendency of his is to be found in a caprice entitled, 'Le Labyrinth,' where the following arpeggio passages occur:—

and

This savours strongly of charlatanism, and it is astonishing to find a direct pupil of Corelli one of the first to introduce such senseless feats of execution into the art of violin-playing. Wasielewsky not unjustly speaks of him as the great-grandfather of our modern 'Finger-heroes' (Fingerhelden).

Locatelli published ten different ^[1]works:—

Op. 1. Twelve concerti grossi. Amsterdam, 1721.

2. Sonatas for flute. Amsterdam, 1732.

3. L'arte del violino, containing 12 concerti grossi and 24 caprices. 1735.

4. Six concertos. 1735.

5. Six sonatas en trio. 1737.

6. Six sonatas for violin solo. 1737.

7. Six concerti a quattro. 1741.

8. Trios. 2 violins and bass. 1741.

9. L'arte di nuova modulazione. Caprices enigmatiques.

10. Contrasto armonico: concertos a quattro.

Modern editions of some of his Sonatas and Caprices have been issued by Witting, Alard, and David. His Sonata di Camera in G minor has lately been played at the Monday Popular Concerts by Mme. Norman Neruda.

[ P. D. ]

1. From Fétis, 'Biogr. Universelle.'