Pietro Nardini

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Pietro Nardini (April 12, 1722 – May 7, 1793) was an Italian composer and violinist.

[edit] Life

He was born in Fibiana and studied music at Livorno, later becoming a pupil of Giuseppe Tartini. As a violinist, he earned the admiration of Leopold Mozart. In 1770, he became Kapellmeister to the Grand Duke of Tuscany in Florence.

Nardini is mentioned in Hester Lynch Piozzi's Observations and Reflections Made in the Course of a Journey Through France, Italy, and Germany (1789) as playing a solo at a concert Mrs Piozzi and her husband, Gabriele Piozzi, gave in Florence in July 1785.

As a violinist, Nardini wrote a few compositions, though not numerous. Each are melodious and highly playable, useful in technical studies. Among the most famous ones is the Concerto in E Minor for violin and orchestra.

[edit] Quotes

Of his playing, Leopold Mozart, himself an eminent violinist, writes:

"The beauty, purity and equality of his tone, and the tastefulness of his cantabile playing, cannot be surpassed; but he does not execute great difficulties." His compositions are marked by vivacity, grace, and sweet sentimentality, but he has neither the depth of feeling, the grand pathos, nor the concentrated energy of his master Tartini. [1]