Tomaso Antonio Vitali

Tomaso Antonio Vitali

Tomaso Antonio Vitali (called Vitalino) (born March 7, 1663 in Bologna , † May 9, 1745 in Modena ) was an Italian violinist and composer .

Life

The eldest son of Giovanni Battista Vitali (1632–1692) was one of his father's most gifted students. Like his father, Tomaso Vitali was a member of the Capella Musicale of the Basilica of San Petronio in Bologna at a very young age .

When his father was appointed vice conductor at the court of Duke Francesco II of Este in Modena in 1674 , his family accompanied him. Tomaso Antonio Vitali probably received his first violin lessons from his father and became a member of the court orchestra at the age of twelve. He also studied with Antonio Maria Pacchioni (1654-1738). His violin virtuosity is said to have been superior to that of his father from an early age. He stayed at the court of Este until 1742.

He later succeeded his father as Kapellmeister to the Duke of Este. His students are Evaristo Dall'Abaco , Jean-Baptiste Senaillé , the son of one of the “ Vingt-quatre Violons du Roy ” in Paris, Girolamo Nicolò Laurenti and Luca Antonio Predieri . After the death of his father in 1692, Vitali has published three collections within three years Triosonaten and another collection violin sonatas with basso continuo accompaniment . Tomasos Vitali's merit was the merging of the church sonata “da chiesa” and the chamber sonata “da camera” into a single type, which was gradually adopted throughout the music world.

After Tomaso Vital's death, his son Fausto Vitali continued the family tradition at the Estonian court and remained their bandmaster from 1750 to 1776.

Chaconne

The violin virtuoso Ferdinand David attributed the famous Chaconne in G minor for violin and figured bass to Vitali around 1860. This authorship was at times questioned by musicologists. The manuscript from Dresden that David used only contains the entries "Chaconne" and "Parte del Tomaso Vitalino". The technical requirements, the elevated position of the piano compared to a figured bass and, above all, the bold harmonic modulations in the variations seemed to indicate a later date of creation.

A comparison with the original published by Ricordi in 1978 and also available online as a facsimile (more precisely: the only contemporary copy by an unknown hand available) shows that David has partly adapted the violin part in accordance with the romantic zeitgeist and probably also his violinist claim. The accompaniment, notated as a figured bass, has been upgraded to a fully elaborated piano setting. Up to the end, however, David follows the formal and harmonious structure of the original, whose sometimes extreme harmonic boldness has amazed the music world since David's publication. Because of the numerous stylistic peculiarities of this work by an otherwise inconspicuous baroque composer, some musicologists speculated that David was the author of the whole work (similar to what Fritz Kreisler actually did a short time later). This theory can now be considered refuted. Due to the meager sources, it has not been finally clarified whether Tomaso Vitali is actually the composer. However, it speaks more for than against this thesis.

Works

• 12 Sonata for violin and basso continuo around 1690 (referred to in the autograph as primizie (first works))
• Op. 1: 12 Sonata a trè Due Violini, e violoncello, col Basso per l'Organo (Modena, 1693)
• Op. 2: 12 Sonata a doi Violini, col Basso per l'Organo (Modena, 1693)
• Op. 3: 12 Sonata da Camera à tre, due Violini e Violone (Modena, 1695)
• Op. 4: Concerto di [12] Sonata a Violino, Violoncello e Harpsichord (Modena, 1701)
• Trio sonata in Corona di dodici fiori armonici tessuta da atretanti ingegni sonori a 3 strumenti (1706)
• Concerto a cinque in G major (undated manuscript, Vatican Apostolic Library: Barb.lat.4231, ff. 11r-14r)
• Prelude by Signr. Vitalis [sic] in Select Preludes or Volentarys for the Violin by the most eminent Masters in Europe (London, 1705)

Web links

• Sheet music and audio files by Tomaso Antonio Vitali in the International Music Score Library Project

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Hermann Keller : The Chaconne in G minor by - Vitali? In: New magazine for music . 125, 1964, pp. 147-148 ( online ).