Carlo Graziani

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Carlo Graziani (early 1700s–1787) was an Italian composer and cello virtuoso whose music shows the galant style and the growing skill of cello playing in the 18th century. His works are known for demanding passagework, bow dexterity, natural and artificial harmonics, up-bow staccatos, scordatura tunings (as in the Sonata in D), multiple stops, and strong dynamic contrasts. Though not often played today, they help us understand how cello technique developed during this era.

Little is known about his early life, including his exact birth or whether he moved from Asti. He clearly received excellent training and became one of the leading cellists of his time.

In the early 1760s Graziani went to Paris and joined the orchestra of the influential patron La Pouplinière. After La Pouplinière’s death in 1762, he worked for Baron de Bagge, who promised him lifetime employment. He was also granted a ten-year privilege to publish instrumental music, leading to his opus 1 and opus 2 sonatas for cello and basso.

Around 1763 he moved to London to serve as principal cellist of the King’s Theatre in the Haymarket, under Felice de Giardini. He gave at least three benefit concerts in 1764.

By 1770 he appears in Frankfurt am Main, performing with his wife, a singer. He was then invited to Potsdam to be the royal cello teacher to Frederick William II of Prussia, a position previously held by L. C. Hesse. Some of his sonatas may have been teaching pieces for the prince.

In 1773 Graziani was replaced by the French cellist J.-P. Duport, but he remained close to the prince, who pensioned him 600 thalers a year after retirement. Details of his life after retirement are scarce, and he died in 1787 in Berlin.