Andrea Zani

Andrea Teodoro Zani(11 November 1696 – 28 September 1757) was an Italianviolinistandcomposer.

Life

Zani was born atCasalmaggiorein theProvince of Cremona.He received his first instruction in playing theviolinfrom his father, an amateur violinist. Subsequently, he received instruction incompositionfrom Giacomo Civeri, a local musician, and studied violin inGuastallawith the court violinist Carlo Ricci.Antonio Caldara,who was working asCapellmeisterat the court of Archduke Ferdinand Charles inMantua,not far from Casalmaggiore, heard Zani play and invited him to accompany him toVienna.Between 1727 and 1729 Zani arrived in Vienna and was active there as a violinist in the service of theHabsburgs.Following the death of his sponsor Caldara in 1736, he returned to Casalmaggiore where he remained for the rest of his life, except for occasional concert appearances. He died in his home town as the result of an accident, when the carriage in which he was travelling to Mantua overturned.

Style and significance

Zani's works show the influence ofAntonio Vivaldi,but are somewhat less sweeping. His op. 2, published in 1729, is of great historical importance because it is the earliest dated source ofsymphoniesthat present no ambiguities of genre.^[1]His late works clearly exhibit a casting off ofbaroqueelements in favor of earlyclassicalones.

Compositions

12 Sonate da camera,op.1 (probably Casalmaggiore, 1727) (Reprinted in Paris as Sonates a violino solo e basso da camera, op. 3)
Sei sinfonie da camera e altretanti concerti da chiesa a quattro strumenti,op. 2 (Casalmaggiore, 1729)
Concerti Dodici a quattro con i suoi ripieni,op. 4 (Vienna, 1735)
Sonate 12 a violino e basso intitolate "pensieri armonici",op. 5 (Vienna, 1735)
Sonate a violino e basso,op. 6 (Paris, 1740)
In addition, there are numerous manuscripts found in libraries scattered throughout Europe, including three concertos and one sonata for flute, at least twelve concertos for cello, six trio sonatas for two violins and continuo, as well as several violin concertos and symphonies.

Sources

Larue, Jan, and Eugene K. Wolf. "Symphony, §I: 18th century".Grove Music Onlineed. L. Macy (Accessed 17 February 2007)
Wolf, Eugene K. 2004, "Andrea Zani's sinfonie da camera, op. 2 (Casalmaggiore, 1729)". InGiovanni Battista Sammartini and His Musical Environment,Studi sulla storia della musica in Lombardia: Collana di testi musicologici 4, edited by Anna Cattoretti, 531–47. Turnhout: Brepols.ISBN 2-503-51233-X

^Wolf 2004.

External links

Free scores by Andrea Zaniat theInternational Music Score Library Project(IMSLP)
Complete Cello Concertos performed by Martin Rummel"Complete Cello Concertos"onYouTube

[FOOTNOTEWolf2004-1] Wolf 2004.

[1]