THE REVOLUTIONARY WORLD
OF J.B. VIOTTI

The figure of Viotti is inextricably linked to the violin. Though he himself was a product of the great Italian violinistic tradition, which in his era already counted amongst its “giants,” the likes of Corelli, Vivaldi, Locatelli and Tartini, Viotti became known as the founder of the French (and later Franco-Belgian) violin school. In his compositions and his performances, he was able to unite the most virtuosic aspects of violin technique with a distinctive, specifically violinistic lyricism.

There are many contemporary accounts that highlight how the, “[enchanting] sweetness and perfections of his tone,” alongside a striking “degree of power and energy,” distinguished Viotti as a uniquely revered master of his art. Viotti earned the admiration and respect of the greatest musicians of his time, including Mozart who knew several of his compositions and even orchestrated one of his violin concerti (n.16 in E minor). Although his public performance career, cut short by the French revolution which caused him to flee France, lasted for fewer than ten years, his approach to sound production and expression and his original concept of musical form influenced an entire generation of violinist composers, such as Rode, Baillot, Kreutzer and Beriot, who codified his teachings in the Méthode de violon by Baillot, Rode and Kreutzer (1803) and in Baillot’s  L’art du violon (1834), thus forming the so-called modern French violin school.

It was also thanks to Viotti, in collaboration with François Xavier Tourte, that the modern bow, still in use today, was brought to life. He enormously pushed the boundaries of violin technique, offering new and highly effective solutions that not only paved the way for the great violinistic repertoire of the nineteenth century but also became in large degree the legacy inherited by and further developed by Paganini.