Concerti Grossi Op.1 Nos. 7-12

"...there is undoubtedly much enjoyment on offer here."
- Classic CD - December 1996

A native of Bergamo, Pietro Locatelli was born in 1695 and started his career there as a violinist at the church of S Maria Maggiore, a position he left in 1711 in order to study in Rome. There it is suggested that he took lessons from Corelli, a leading figure in the music of the city, still living in the palace of Cardinal Ottoboni, the Cancelleria, which he left the following year, as his health failed. Locatelli had a clear debf to the tradition established by Corelli, but it has been doubted that he was ever his pupil The possibility has been suggested that Locatelli studied with the Florentine Giuseppe Valentini, presumed to have been a former pupil of Corelli, a younger man, who, like Locatelli in later years, also included the viola in the concertino of his concerti grossi of 17l0. It was with Valentini that he travelled about this time. His career as a performer continued in Italy, with the patronage of Cardinal Ottoboni and of the Habsburg Governor of Mantua, Prince Philip of Hessen-Darmstadt, who had given Vivaldi the title of maestro di cappella da camera, a position enjoyed largely in absentia. Similarly Locatelli became virtuoso da camera to the Prince, suggesting a similar lack of continuing obligation in Mantua, which he must, at least, have visited for a time. Outside Italy he won an increasing reputation for himself during visits to the Bavarian court and to Berlin, the second in the entourage of the Elector of Saxony, August the Strong, employer of Vivaldi's pupil Pisendel and Veracini in a distinguished musical establishment.