Biography
Holding the title of “first violinist” at the ducal chapel of St Mark’s, Gentili occupied that post continuously from 1689 to 1731. In the course of his tenure he released six printed collections of instrumental music whose overall layout and formal design closely paralleled the publications of his contemporary Albinoni. The technical requirements of Gentili’s violin parts exceeded those of Albinoni in the degree of facility and dexterity they presupposed, yet the music itself remains no more than competent. Within the adagio movements of the trio sonatas, the alternation of soli and tutti passages is especially conspicuous and may point to the use of double instrumentation.
Albums