Fusignano, Italy

Feb. 12 or 13, 1653, d. Rome, Jan. 10, 1713. Pupil in vln. of Ba ani, counterpoint of Simonelli; after traveling m Germ anv and po ibly in France, '•on led in Rome about 1685, under patronage of Cardinal Ottoboni, a charming and amiable man, a connoi eur of pictures^ who was a favorite in Roman society and his Monday concerts important events; he had many famous pupils, among them Loca tell i, Gemimani, Baptiste. In 1708 he yielded to urgent invitation of King of Naples, but his playing did not please the King and he made some humiliating mistakes The discovery that Valentmi had become popular in Rome seemed to him so much an added mortification that his health gave way. Without being an innovator, he established vln. technic upon a firm basis. His works, several sets of twelve sonatas for vln. and other instruments, are of great historical importance, as early examples of le severely contrapuntal manner, afterward developed by Bach.