Search parameters

"For ten years, until 1792, Giovanni Battista Viotti lived in Paris, performing, composing, teaching, and conducting. So strong was his influence, so unique were his accomplishments as violinist and as composer for his instrument, that he brought about a complete regeneration of French violin art ... Viotti's concept of the violin concerto--an imaginative fusion of Italian, French, and German elements--was eagerly absorbed and developed by his French disciples and ultimately became known as the French Violin Concerto ... The Viotti tradition was perpetuated when his three most prominent disciples--Rode, Kreutzer, and Baillot--were appointed to the faculty of the newly founded Conservatoir (1795); they were also put in charge of writing the official violin method, which appeared in 1803. The result was a unique homogeneity of French violin playing which was reflected in the superlative standards of Parisian orchestras." (B. Schwarz, "Beethoven and the French Violin School," Musical Quarterly 44, no. 4 (October 1958), p. 432-433).