​

A bit of history......

Michele Mascitti (Villa Santa Maria, 1664 (?) ? Paris, 19 aprile 1760) was an italian violinist and composer.

 

Biography

Was born in Villa Santa Maria near Chieti in 1664 (?), and studied violin since young age with his uncle Pietro Marchitelli, which in that time was employed by the Cappella Reale of Naples and by the S.Bartolomeo Theater as violinist. When Mashitti moved to Naples he too played for the Reale Cappella as “violino suprannumerario” and lived in various Italian, German and Dutch cities till 1704, year during which he moved permanently to Paris. Here, within 1738, published at least nine volumes of sonatas and in 1739 became a French citizen and again baptized as Michel. From now ahead, due to his great fame, would receive the protection of the Duke of Orleans, the elector of Bavaria and the cardinal Pietro Ottoboni.

 

Compositions

● 6 Sonate a vl. solo col cimbalo o violone e 6 sonate per vl., vlc. e b.c. op.1 (1704)
● 15 Sonate da camera a vl. solo col violone o cimbalo op.2 (1706)
● 12 Sonate da camera a vl. solo col violone o cimbalo op.3 (1707)
● 8 Sonate a vl. solo e b.c., e 6 sonate a 2 vl. e b.c. op.4 (1711)
● 12 Sonate a vl. solo e b.c. op.5 (1714)
● 15 Sonate a vl. solo e b.c., e sonate a 2 vl. e b. op.6 (1722)
● 8 Sonate a vl. solo e b.c., e quattro concerti a 6 parti op.7 (1727)
● 12 Sonate a vl. solo e b.c. op.8 (1731)
● 12 Sonate a vl. solo e b.c. op.9 (1738)

Source: Wikipedia

 

The Neapolitan Violin School and Giovanni Leone

 

Michele Mashitti went to Paris where he was very successful, and hold in great esteem. Many are the instrumental works, where the violin has an important role, which made the Neapolitan musical theatre achieve a great success: the delicious fugues of Niccol? Porpora, the works of the violin virtuoso Emanuele Barella, of Ignazio Raimondi, who became the director of the Concerts of Amsterdam, of Niccol? Jommelli and of Leonardo Leo. The violin concerto by the great genius, Giovan Battista Pergolesi, who was a great violinist and composer. Naples registered important didactic activities. Two are the great Maestros, both born in the '80s of the last century: Alberto Curci and Luigi D'Ambrosio. The first is an important figure not only for the didactic. Curci learned from the Lombard Angelo Ferni, pupil at his turn of Alard, Vieuxtemps and De Beriot, exponents of the French-Belgian violin school. Then he perfected his knowledge of violin with the legendary Joachim and began his teacher and soloist career. Under Curci studied many musicians, among them Luigi Schinin, Angelo Gaudino and Pavanelli, teacher at his turn of Antonio Salvatore. Luigi D'Ambrosio studied under the Rumenian Eusebio Dworzak, teacher for many years of the Conservatorio San Pietro a Majella, and he perfected his violin knowledge of violin thanks to the German August Wilhelmj. He was like Curci a qualified and severe teacher, but he was lucky enough to meet two very gifted pupils: Giovanni Leone and Salvatore Accardo, who brought great prestige to his school. Leone has been for thirty years the best "viola" of Europe. Alfredo Casella called him “The Prince of violas ". When he abandoned the concert activity because of a car accident, Leone made a name for himself as teacher. Among his pupils the Swedish Gunnar Palm, Felicia Casino, Antonio Arciprete and Luca Ciuffoletti.

 

Source: Fondazione Curci - http://www.fondazionecurci.it/main.php?LANG=en

 

Giovanni Leone

Quintetto Chigiano - 1939

 

Giovanni Leone with Andres Segovia - 1951

 

Chigiana Music Academy

 

Before the establishment of the Accademia Chigiana, in Siena many were the events that later would became part of the Accademia Chigiana; the concerts of the winter season, inaugurated in 1923 or the Festival della Societ? Internazionale di Musica Contemporanea during which, in the edition of 1928, were performed as world premier compositions by Prokofiev, Walton, Casella, Ravel, Webern, Hindemith e De Falla. The Accademia Musicale Chigiana (English: Chigiana Musical Academy) is a music institute in Siena, Italy. It was founded by Count Guido Chigi Saracini in 1932 as an international centre for advanced musical studies. It organizes Master Classes in the major musical instruments as well as singing, conducting and composition. During the summer months a series of concerts are held under the title of Estate Musicale Chigiana. In 1983 the Accademia Musicale Chigiana, Fulvia Casella Nicolodi and Guido Turchi created an International Composition Competition named after Alfredo Casella, for the one hundredth anniversary of his birth. The International Accademia Musicale Chigiana Prize has been assigned, and among the winners’ names are some of the most famous ones in international concert circles: the violinists Gidon Kremer (1982), Shlomo Mintz (1984), Anne-Sophie Mutter (1986), Viktoria Mullova (1988), Frank Peter Zimmermann (1990), Gil Shaham (1992), Maxim Vengerov (1995), Julian Rachlin (2000), Hilary Hahn (2002) and Sarah Chang (2005), the pianists Peter Serkin (1983), Krystian Zimerman (1985), Andras Schiff (1987), Andrei Gavrilov (1989), Evgeny Kissin (1991), Andrea Lucchesini (1994), Lilya Zilberstein (1998), Leif Ove Andsnes (2001) and Arcadi Volodos (2003), as well as the orchestral conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen (1993), the Hagen Quartet (1996) and the Artemis Quartet (2004), the violist Tabea Zimmermann (1997) and the violoncellist Matt Haimowitz (1999). These names join the history of the Accademia Chigiana, already studded with illustrious presences. In (2006) the Prize has been assigned to the pianist Paul Lewis. The 2010 Prize goes to Polish pianist Rafal Blechacz. The list of distinguished pupils includes: Elena Baggiore, Daniel Barenboim, Carlo Maria Giulini, Antonio Cece, Carlo Chiarappa, Ruggero Chiesa, Montserrat Torrent, Paolo Peloso, Paolo Castaldi, Ugo Trama, Roberto Carnevale, Zubin Mehta, Claudio Abbado, Luca Oberti, Daniel Oren, Roman Vlad, Salvatore Accardo, Uto Ughi, Flavio Sala, Mario Lamberto, Domenico Nordio, Alessandro Solbiati, Alirio Diaz, Gaspar Cassad?, Luca Ciuffoletti, Gian Luigi Zampieri, Anna Tifu, John Williams, Linda Calzolaro, Marcin Dylla, Jean-Patrice Brosse, Marco Pace, Costantino Mastroprimiano, Adam Fischer, Giuseppe Sinopoli, Yan-Pascal Tortelier, Riccardo Chailly, Aldo Ceccato,Massimo De Bernart.

 

Distinguished Teachers:Vito Frazzi, Maria Caniglia, Gina Cigna, Alfredo Casella, Oscar Ghiglia, Paul van Kempen, Antonio Guarnieri, Alceo Galliera, Sergiu Celibidache, Gaspar Cassad?, Nicanor Zabaleta, Franco Ferrara, Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, Gaspar Cassad?, Guido Agosti, Andr? Navarra, Giorgio Favaretto, Carlo Maria Giulini, Giuseppe Garbarino, Salvatore Accardo, Riccardo Brengola, Bruno Giuranna, Franco Petracchi, Franco Donatoni, Goffredo Petrassi, Kenneth Gilbert, Severino Gazzelloni, Franco Gulli, Oscar Ghiglia, Boris Belkin, Jurji Bashmet, Aur?le Nicolet, Michele Campanella, Gino Bechi, Fernando Germani, Sergio Lorenzi, Boris Porena, Nino Antonellini, Pietro Scarpini, Tibor Varga, Shirley Verrett, Raina Kabaivanska, Renato Bruson, Alain Meunier, Patrick Gallois, Gianluigi Gelmetti, Mario Brunello, Piero Farulli, Ruggero Gerlin, Stanislav Neuhaus, Lothar Faber, Piero Bellugi, Joaquin Achucarro, Antony Pay, Susanna Mildonian, Andr?s Segovia, Trio di Trieste, Koichiro Harada, Christophe Rousset, Uto Ughi, Giuliano Carmignola, Azio Corghi, David Geringas, Pablo Casals, Alfred Cortot, Antonio Meneses, Giulia Varesi-Boccabadati.

 

Source: Wikipedia