Giovanni Battista Viotti

Abstract

Giovanni Battista Viotti (b. 1755–d. 1824), the son of a blacksmith, was born in the village of Fontanetto Po, not far from Turin, where he completed his studies and began his career as a violinist. He died in London after a brilliant but checkered career as the most celebrated violinist of his time, as an opera theater and concert series director in Paris and London, and as a failed wine merchant. He was fêted by the crowned heads of Europe, including Frederick the Great, Catherine II of Russia, Marie Antoinette, and the Prince of Wales (later George IV of England). Forced to escape the French Revolution because of his royalist associations, he was later exiled from England for alleged revolutionary activities. Viotti’s life is instructive as an exemplum of musicians caught up in the social and economic upheavals of the French Revolution and its aftermath―the change from aristocratic and court patronage to the increasingly commercial, box office–centered institutions of the 19th century. For thirty years Viotti enjoyed an intimate friendship with an English family, the Chinnerys, that lasted until his death, and which in some ways became the mainspring of his existence. An extensive collection of their correspondence throws an extraordinarily vivid light on his life and career. Though he died in debt, having outlived his fame, Viotti, through his playing, his compositions, and his teaching, was arguably the most influential violinist who ever lived. His published oeuvre—consisting chiefly of violin concertos; sonatas for violin and keyboard; and string duets, trios, and quartets (and many arrangements thereof)—enjoyed enormous esteem and popularity in his time. Viotti’s musical style, thoroughly Italianate in its lyricism, reflects the evolution of the Classical style, from galant to pre-Romantic, but in an entirely original and unpredictable way. Scholarly study of Viotti and his works was practically nonexistent until the late 19th century, and remained scarce until well into the 20th century. Since the 1950s, however, and especially since the 1990s, scholarly studies—books and articles—have been published in ever-increasing numbers.