Pietro Antonio Locatelli

Pietro Antonio Locatelli was an Italian violinist and composer born on September 3, 1695 (J.S. Bach was ten years old.) It has been said that he was a child prodigy. After playing in the Bergamo church orchestra until age 16 (1711), he was sent to study in Rome (presumably with Arcangelo Corelli). From 1723 he toured and played in Italy and Germany, wherever it suited his fancy. In 1729 he went to work in Amsterdam and it is likely that he lived there the remainder of his life. In Amsterdam, Locatelli set up his own business as a distributor of his own works, sold books out of his house, and gave private concerts - so few details are known about him that he has been described as being shadowy and reclusive. His reputation rests on his Opus 3 - The Art of the Violin - a collection of 12 violin concertos with extended cadenzas in the outer movements, published in 1733. Since the cadenzas are unaccompanied, some players have chosen to separate them from the rest of the works to play them as caprices or studies. Paganini himself profited from studying Locatelli's concertos.  It has been said that the engraving process for Opus 3 took three years - it took a music engraver an entire week to engrave just two pages and the work (then) ran about 295 pages. Among the violins he owned were a 1618 Amati, a 1724 Teckler, and a 1667 Stainer.  Locatelli's last work, his Opus 9 - a collection of six concertos for chamber ensemble from 1762 - is presumed forever lost.  His musical style mirrors that of Corelli and Vivaldi.  Locatelli died on March 30 1764, at age 69.  He owned a book collection of more than one thousand volumes along with works of art, engravings, and musical instruments which were sold after his death.  The proceeds went to two of his nephews.