Francesco Xaverio Geminiani — Lucca, Italy
Posted by: prussel
N 43° 50.648 E 010° 30.271
32T E 620939 N 4855660
Statue of Francesco Xaverio Geminiani (1687-1762) at at Piazza Guidiccion, Italian violinist, composer, and music theorist
Waymark Code: WM14KKA
Location: Toscana, Italy
Date Posted: 07/22/2021
Views: 0
This life-sized marble statue of Francesco Xaverio Geminiani stands at Piazza Guidiccion in Lucca. The statue, created by Viareggio artist Nicola Domenici, reproduces the entire figure of the Maestro with his musical instrument, the violin. The sculpture, made of Carrara marble, is two and a half metres high and, together with the marble base, the work rises more than four metres above street level. The monument was unveiled on 15 October 2017.
The inscription on the base reads:
Francesco Xaverio Geminiani
Lucca 1687 - Dublino 1762
Grande violinista e compositore
perseguì gli ideali di libertá,
uguaglianza e fratellanza
Francesco Xaverio Geminiani (baptised 5 December 1687 in Lucca; † 17 September 1762 in Dublin) was an Italian violinist, composer, and music theorist.
He received lessons in music from Alessandro Scarlatti, studied the violin under Carlo Ambrogio Lonati in Milan and afterwards under Arcangelo Corelli. From 1707 he took the place of his father in the Cappella Palatina of Lucca. From 1711, he worked in Naples as Leader of the Opera Orchestra and concertmaster.
In 1714, he set off for London, under the patronage of the 3rd Duke of Essex he engaged in teaching and composing. In 1715 Geminiani played his violin concerti for the court of George I, with Handel at the keyboard.
After a stay in Paris, he settled in Dublin in 1732, taught, composed, published a music journal, wrote works on music theory and traded in paintings by important Italian painters.
Geminiani was buried in the courtyard of the Irish Parliament two days after his death. Later, his mortal remains were transferred to Lucca, where they were buried in the Chiesa di San Francesco.
Sources: wikipedia, La Gazzetta di Lucca