Federigo Fiorillo

Federigo Fiorillo was born in Braunschweig in 1755 and died after 1823. The musician of Italian origin received his training from his father, the Neapolitan composer Ignazio Fiorillo, and began his career as a mandolin player and violinist. Stages of his career took him to Saint Petersburg and in 1780 to Poland; from 1783 to 1785 he directed the theatre in Riga, and from 1785 to 1788 he worked in Paris at the Concert spirituel. From 1788 he lived in London, where he belonged to the Salomon-Quartett as a violist and appeared as a soloist at the Ancient Concerts; in 1794 he ended his concert career. He wrote duos, trios, quartets and violin concertos; still played today are above all the 36 Caprices for violin, which are part of the study repertoire of the music academies.