A great virtuoso player, praised to the skies by some and disparaged by others, Pietro Antonio Locatelli was something of an oddity in 17th and 18th century Italy and the grand musical cities of Europe. The works of the grand masters of the violin held no secrets for him. He played, amongst others, Geminiani, Tartini, Torelli, Corelli, Veracini, Vitali and vivaldi. His talenT as a composer, allied with brilliant analytical insights, enabled him to create a synthesis of the music of Rome and Venice. Together with his sonatas and concerti grossi, the 12 concertos and 24 caprices of ‘L’Arte del violino’ – a homage to Venice, dedicated to the Ventian patrician, Girolamo Michiel Lini, was published in 1733 in Amsterdam where locatelli had settled in 1729 and was to stay until his death in 1765.
