FRANCESCO

See also:

• FRANCESCO GEM1NIANI (c. 168o-1762)

GEM1NIANI (c. 168o-1762)  , Italian violinist, was born at Lucca about 1680 . He received lessons in music from Alessandro Scarlatti, and studied the violin under Lunati (Gobbo) and afterwards under Corelli . In 1714 he arrived in London, where he was taken under the special protection of the earl of Essex, and made a living by teaching and writing music . In 1715 he played his violin concertos with Handel at the English court . After visiting Paris and residing there for some time, he returned to England in 1755 . In 1761 he went to Dublin, where a servant robbed him of a musical manuscript on which he had bestowed much time and labour . His vexation at this loss is said to have hastened his death on the 17th of September 1762 . He appears to have been a first-rate violinist, but most of his compositions are dry and deficient in melody . His Art of Playing the Violin is a good work of its kind, but his Guida ,armonica is an inferior production . He published a number of solos for the violin, three sets of violin concertos, twelve violin trios, The Art of Accompaniment on the Harpsichord, Organ, &c., Lessons for the Harpsichord and some other works .