String Virtuosi in Eighteenth-Century Naples
Culture, Power, and Music Institutions

A compelling new study of instrumental music in early modern Naples and of the string virtuosi who disseminated it through Europe.

Guido Olivieri (Author)

9781009273688, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 21 December 2023

296 pages
25 x 17.2 x 2 cm, 0.713 kg

'Olivieri's thoroughly researched and meticulously prepared volume is an impressive achievement, … his magnum opus represents a significant contribution to our knowledge and understanding of not only the importance of instrumental music to the culture of early 18th-century Naples in times of political and social chance but also its wider European impact.' Mark Pemberton, The Strad

Drawing on extensive archival work, this book examines the crucial contribution of Neapolitan string virtuosi to the dissemination of instrumental music and to the development of string practices and musical culture in Europe. It presents a fresh look at the central place of instrumental music in early modern Naples and considers aspects of music pedagogy, performance practices, patronage, and musicians' social mobility. Music examples, paintings, and lists of personnel of major music institutions inform the discussion and illustrate the opportunities for social mobility afforded by the music profession. Music production and consumption are considered within their cultural, political, and economic contexts and in connection with the rapid political changes of eighteenth-century Naples. This substantial contribution to the understanding of a previously under-studied repertory places the cultivation of Neapolitan instrumental music at the centre of aesthetic and cultural developments across eighteenth-century Europe.

Introduction: Parthenope's violin
1. Music institutions in Naples
2. The formation of the Neapolitan string virtuosi
3. Cello virtuosi
4. Between Naples and Paris: the string sonata in France
5. Neapolitan virtuosi in the public sphere: the 'tastes reunite'
6. Neapolitan instrumental music under the Austrian domination
7. Under the wings of the imperial eagle: string virtuosi between Naples and Vienna.

Subject Areas: Baroque music [c 1600 to c 1750 AVGC3]