Pietro Locatelli

An 18th-century Paganini, Pietro Locatelli was both a charismatic violinist and a pioneering composer. Born in 1695, he inherited the richly textured concerto style of Corelli—with whom he may have studied—but his main interest was in the emerging solo concerto, which he took to new heights of virtuosity. His high-wire acrobatics were legendary, and his surviving violin concertos show a particular fascination with the violin’s uppermost register, traversing huge intervals, and skipping—daringly—between strings. In his solo concertos and 24 Capricci, Locatelli comprehensively revolutionised violin technique, systematically publishing his works to ensure maximum circulation and influence. He also cultivated a more sensitive lyrical style, often inspired by vocal music and the inflections of speech, as in the dramatic concerto Il pianto d’Arianna (Ariadne’s Lament) in which the solo violin becomes the voice of the heroine abandoned by Theseus. An astute businessman, Locatelli lived prosperously in Amsterdam for the last 35 years of his life, dying there in 1764.