Home > Francesco Geminiani

He received lessons in music from Alessandro Scarlatti, and studied the violin under Lunati (Gobbo) and afterwards under Corelli. He played in the opera orchastra at Naples In 1714 he arrived in London, where he was taken under the special protection of Willliam Capell, 3rd Earl of Essex, and made a living by teaching and writing music.

In 1715 he played his violin concertos with Handel at the English court. After visiting Paris and residing there for some time, he returned to England in 1755. In 1761 he went to Dublin, where a servant robbed him of a musical manuscript on which he had bestowed much time and labour. His vexation at this loss is said to have hastened his death.

He appears to have been a first-rate violinist. His Italian fellow pupils reportedly called him Il Furibondo, the Madman, because of his rhythms. He is best known for two sets of concerti grossi, his Opus 3 and Opus 7, (there are 42 in all) which introduce the violaString instruments Alternate uses: Viola (disambiguation The viola is a stringed musical instrument which serves as the middle voice of the violin family, between the upper lines played by the violin and the lower lines played by the cello and double bass as a member of the concertino group of soloists, making them essentially concerti for string quartetA string quartet is a musical ensemble of four string musical instruments or a piece written to be performed by such a group. Background Although any combination of four string instruments can literally be called a "string quartet", in practice the term r. These works are deeply contrapuntalCounterpoint is a musical device where two or more melodic phrases occur simultaneously. The term comes from the Latin punctus contra punctum (note against note). A note moves against another note when the interval between those two notes either grows or compared to the galant work that was fashionable at the time of their composition. Geminiani also reworked a group of trio sonataThe trio sonata is a musical form which was particularly popular around the end of the 17th century and the beginning of the 18th century. A trio sonata is written for two solo melodic instruments and basso continuo, making three parts in all, hence the ns from his teacher Corelli into concerti grossi.

His Art of Playing the Violin published in London, 1751, was the first published violin method. but his Guida harmonica is an inferior production. He published a number of solos for the violin, three sets of violin concertos, twelve violin trios, The Art of Accompaniment on the Harpsichord, Organ, etc. 91754), Lessons for the Harpsichord Art of Playing the guitar (1760) and some other works.

This entry incorporates corrected and expanded material originally from the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.