Pietro Nardini (12 April 1722 – 7 May 1793) was an Italian composer and violinist, a transitional musician who worked in both the Baroque and Classical era traditions.

Life

Nardini was born in Livorno and at the age of 12 became a pupil of Giuseppe Tartini in Padua. In 1740 he moved to Lucca. He was invited to the court of Maria Theresa in Vienna more than once. In 1762 he moved to Stuttgart, where he joined the court of Charles Eugene, Duke of Württemberg and performed at his summer residence Ludwigsburg Palace. He was appointed conductor, succeeding Niccolò Jommelli. In 1765 he traveled to the courts of Charles I, Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel and Prince Francis Xavier of Saxony. In 1770 he moved back to Italy to assist the suffering Tartini. The next year he became Kapellmeister, succeeding Carlo Antonio Campioni in Florence. The rest of his life he stayed at the court of Leopold II, Grand Duke of Tuscany, but performed in Naples, Pisa and Rome.

Pietro Nardini

As a friend of Leopold Mozart, he witnessed the arrival of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart on his first visit to Italy and his attempts to find a sustainable position in 1770–1771. He also met the Bohemian composer Václav Pichl, Kapellmeister to Ferdinand Karl, Archduke of Austria-Este, governor of Lombardy. In 1778 he was invited by Catherine the Great.

Nardini is mentioned in English writer Hester Lynch Piozzi's Observations and Reflections Made in the Course of a Journey Through France, Italy, and Germany (1789) as playing a solo at a concert Mrs Piozzi and her husband, Gabriele Piozzi, gave in Florence in July 1785.

Though Nardini was not a prolific composer, his works are known for their sentimental but melodious tunes and usefulness in technical studies. Among the best known are the Sonata in D major and the Concerto in E minor.

He was a teacher to many students: Bartolomeo Campagnoli, Filippo Manfredi [it], Thomas Linley the younger, Giovanni Francesco Giuliani [it] and perhaps Giuseppe Cambini and Gaetano Brunetti. Nardini died in Florence on 7 May 1793, aged 71.

Statements by Contemporaries

Leopold Mozart heard Nardini in 1763 at Ludwigsburg Palace, he wrote to his landlord and patron Lorenz Hagenauer full of admiration; "Tell Mr. Wenzl that I have heard a certain Nardini, and that, in the beauty, purity, evenness of tone and in the singable taste, nothing more beautiful can be heard." Charles Burney noted in Florence in 1770; "This afternoon I had the pleasure of hearing Mr. Nardini, he appears to me to be the best violin player in all of Italy." The poet and music writer Friedrich Daniel Schubart wrote "...the tenderness of his performance is impossible to describe: every comma seems to be a declaration of love. One has seen ice-cold princes and court ladies weep when he played an Adagio."

Works (Selection)

• 6 Concerti per violino solo e orchestra op. 1 (Amsterdam 1765)

• 6 Soli per violino e basso continuo op. 5 (London c. 1760)

• 6 Soli per violino e basso continuo op. 2 (Amsterdam c. 1770)

• 7 Sonate per violino „avec les Adagios brodés“ (published, Paris 1798)

• Sonate énigmatique (published, Paris 1803)

• 6 Concerti per violino solo e orchestra (preserved as manuscript)

• 14 Menuetti per due violini e basso continuo (London c. 1750)

• 6 Duetti per due viole (London c. 1775)

• 6 String Quartets (Florence c. 1782)

• 8 Trio Sonatas

• Romanza per due violini

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pietro_Nardini / License: CC BY-SA 4.0