Giovanni Baptiste Viotti Konzert für Violine und Orchester Nr 22 a Moll

Giovanni Baptiste Viotti Konzert für Violine und Orchester Nr 22 a Moll
喬凡妮·巴蒂斯特·維奧蒂 A小調第22號小提琴與樂團協奏曲

208 views May 23, 2026 #EuropeanMusic #ClassicalMusic #LivePerformance
Giovanni Battista Viotti — admired by Johannes Brahms and Joseph Joachim — was one of the most influential violin virtuosos of his time and is often regarded as the father of the modern French violin school. His violin concertos deeply influenced Beethoven, Paganini and the Romantic concerto tradition.

Viotti also played an important role in the technical evolution of violin playing by collaborating with the legendary bow maker François Tourte, whose innovations helped shape the modern violin bow and greatly expanded the instrument’s expressive and dynamic possibilities.

In 1798, under suspicion of Jacobin sympathies during the political turmoil following the French Revolution, Viotti was expelled from England and retreated to Schenefeld near Hamburg, where he lived in relative isolation on the estate of an English merchant. During this period, he withdrew from public concert life, gave private lessons to the young violin prodigy Friedrich Wilhelm Pixis and performed only in private salons.

Fascinatingly, Viotti largely abandoned public performing for several years to devote himself to the wine trade. The business fluctuated between success and severe financial difficulties and eventually collapsed, leaving him heavily indebted. In the final years of his life, he returned to Paris in an attempt to repay his debts through work at the opera, before dying in London in poverty in 1824.

His Violin Concerto No. 22 marks the transition from the virtuoso Classical concerto to the symphonic Romantic concerto later brought to completion by Brahms.

On March 25, 2022, at the Laeiszhalle Hamburg, audiences had the rare opportunity to hear both the Johannes Brahms Violin Concerto and Giovanni Battista Viotti’s Violin Concerto No. 22 in a single concert evening — revealing the remarkable musical bridge between the two works. The idea for this unusual and illuminating program pairing was conceived by violinist Joanna Kamenarska and brought to life together with conductor Christian Kunert and the Hamburger Camerata.

Film Provided by Joanna Kamenarska