Resumo

Nascido em Lucca, Itália, em 1687, Francesco Geminiani foi discípulo de Alessandro Scarlatti e de Arcangelo Corelli em Roma. Em 1714, radicou-se em Londres, e, lá, guiou a construção do gosto musical inglês, tendo sido reconhecido como violinista virtuose, bem como compositor e professor destacados. Ao final de sua vida, dedicou-se à elaboração de seis tratados musicais: Rules for Playing in a True Taste (1748), A Treatise of Good Taste in the Art of Musick (1749), The Art of Playing on the Violin (1751), Guida Armonica (1752), The Art of Accompaniament (1754) e The Art of Playing the Guitar or Cittra (1760). Embora breves, seus textos demonstram o domínio do escritor sobre a linguagem da música instrumental, e discutem conceitos fundamentais da performance musical, aliando-os a preceptivas retóricas amplamente abordadas por teóricos setecentistas, como o gosto. Neste artigo estudaremos cada obra individualmente, ressaltando suas características históricas, textuais e musicais, bem como as diversas qualidades que este músico demonstrou dominar.

The Theoretical Work of Francesco Geminiani (1687-1762)

Born in Lucca, Italy in 1687, Francesco Geminiani was a pupil of Alessandro Scarlatti and Arcangelo Corelli in Rome. In 1714, he moved to London, and there guided the making of the English taste in music, being recognized as a virtuoso violinist, as well as distinguished composer and pedagogue. At the end of his life, Geminiani dedicated himself to elaborating six musical treatises: Rules for Playing in a True Taste (1748), A Treatise of Good Taste in the Art of Musick (1749), The Art of Playing on the Violin (1751), Guida Armonica (1752), The Art of Accompaniament (1754) and The Art of Playing the Guitar or Cittra (1760). Although short, these texts demonstrate Geminiani’s mastery of the language of instrumental music and discuss fundamental concepts of music performance while allying them to aesthetical principles, like taste, broadly approached by eighteenth-century scholars. In this article, we will study each work individually, highlighting their historical, textual and musical characteristics, as well as the many qualities that Giminani proved to master.