Monday, June 22, 2009

Alois Tommasini

Alois Tommasini (Alois Luigi Tomasini) was an Italian violinist and composer born on June 22, 1741 (Bach was 56 years old.) He played first violin (and later served as concertmaster) in the Esterházy orchestra conducted by Joseph Haydn (1732-1809.) As a teenager he studied in Italy and later also studied with Haydn while at Esterhazy. Among other things, he wrote more than 20 string quartets which are today completely forgotten or seldom played. Tommasini had two sons - Anton (1775-1824) and Alois (1779-1858) - who also played in the Esterházy orchestra; in fact, Anton became the orchestra’s director in 1818. Alois Tommasini died on April 25, 1808 (one year before Haydn.) Note: That's not Tommasini on the upper left - that's Nardini. I could not find Tommasini's photo anywhere but I figured most Baroque composers looked pretty much the same anyway.

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