Pierre Gaviniès

Who is Pierre Gaviniès?

Pierre Gaviniès was a French violinist and composer

At the age of thirteen, Gaviniès had already been noticed, alongside Joseph-Barnabé Saint-Sevin, performing a duet of Jean-Marie Leclair's Spiritual Concert. Much in demand in Paris, he declined the offer of a position at the Chapel Royal. Young man, he was involved in a matter of manners with a noble lady of the Court, which earned him a sentence of one year in prison. During the 1760s he became a success for his compositions, his concerts and as professor of violin.

He had a long and fruitful collaboration with the Spiritual Concert which took over management from 1773 to 1777 with François-Joseph Gossec and Simon Leduc. During this period, he brought the symphony concert at its peak. Giovanni Battista Viotti - badge recognition - saw in him the French Tartini.

He published his sonatas, following the ancient tradition, only with the lower figures, and these compositions represent the stylistic transition from late baroque music to classical.

In the years following the Revolution, from 1795, he was in the company of Pierre Rode and Pierre Baillot Rodolphe Kreutzer a faculty violin conservatory newly created.