Locatelli is not really a famous composer, but you may know him if you play violin. I had already listened to some of his pieces and during this month I kept listening to most of his pieces. I have to say, that after a long listening session, my favourite pieces were already the ones I had listened before. Despite that, it doesn't mean I haven't found incredible new pieces by this composer!
So, first of all some information about his life. He was an Italian Baroque composer and violinist. He was born in 1695 and died in 1764. He was probably very much inspired by Corelli and it's told that he was a great violinist (Wikipedia states that people said of him that he never played a wrong note, except one time when his pinky slipped on the violin bridge).
His major pieces are his Concerti and his Caprices. I have to say that some of his Caprices seem very very hard to play, so I think he definitely plays an important part in the virtuosistic violin repertoire. I also gave a listening to his Trio Sonatas and some of his Violin Sonatas. Here's what I enjoyed the most.
Starting from his Trio Sonatas, I would say my favorite was most probably Trio Sonata in E Minor, Op. 5, while I have enjoyed specific parts of his other Trio Sonatas, like
Trio Sonata in G Major, Op. 5: I. Andante, Trio Sonata in G Major, Op. 5: III. Gavotta, Trio Sonata in G Major, Op. 5: IV. Largo, Trio Sonata in D Major, Op. 8: IV. Fuga, Trio Sonata in D Major, Op. 8: V. Allegro molto.
I think those are not very known classical pieces overall, but they're still pretty good, despite not being, in my opinion, among the things that make Locatelli a great composer. Music is about enjoying what you listen and you're going to get that if you like the sound of the violin and Baroque music. But at the same time, I don't think it's something very revolutionary. It's pretty much Baroque music, quite like Handel. Now that I listened to Handel, I can compare the two composers and say that while Handel seemed to have focused more on the whole and on the expression and power of all the instruments, Locatelli mainly focused on the violin, while still managing to not make it sound like a violin concerto. The style is different, but you can hear that they have some points in common.
Now, about Violin sonatas, I haven't listened to all of them and the commentary is pretty much the one I made before, with the exception that well, in this case, the violin has to be on the spotlight because they're violin sonatas lol. Without further ado, here they are the violin sonatas I liked the most:
Violin Sonata in B-Fflat Major, Op. 6 No. 1: II. Allegro, Violin Sonata in E Major, Op. 6 No. 4: III. Aria. Andante and finally the one I enjoyed the most: the entire Violin Sonata in B Major.
Now, we have one of the most interesting things among Locatelli's works: his Concerti. Nothing to say really, if you like Baroque music, you'll find something you'll like here. I really enjoyed all of his violin Concerti, but there's one I knew already which is among my favourite Violin Concerti of all time: the 12th Violin Concerto. Not very well known, it's in my opinion
one of the greatest. The interesting part about these Concerti is that they incorporate his Caprices (which are in my opinion the best thing about Locatelli's music). While his 12th Violin Concerto his my favorite, I'd say the 4th is my second favourite and I really appreaciated also the Concerto in D Major, Op. 3 No. 1 and Concerto in C Minor, Op. 3 No. 2: III. Andante.
Finally, here we are: his Caprices, They are for me the most important thing he made and while someone who doesn't play the violin might enjoy them less, I recommand you to give them a listening because they deserve it! Such difficult pieces, with virtuosism and while keeping a very interesting melody are definitely something incredible. Their melody is really catchy, which is very interesting. Now here I really advise you to listen to all of them. If I have to give my favorite ones, they are: the 2nd, 5th, 13th, 15th. I really love all of the rest, but my overall favourite are : the 16th (imo Paganini took some inspiration from this, but I haven't done any research on this), 22nd and my favourite is the 23rd.
