Rolla, Alessandro, 1757-1841
Dates
- Existence: April 6, 1757 - September 15, 1841
Biography
(b Pavia, 23 April 1757; d Milan, 14 Sept 1841). Italian composer, violinist and viola player. He studied counterpoint in Milan with G.A. Fioroni, a pupil of Leonardo Leo. Having decided to devote himself to the viola, he performed a viola concerto of his own in the church of S Ambrogio at some time between 1772 and 1774, probably under the direction of G.B. Sammartini, and in 1778 he played the viola in the orchestra for the inauguration of the Regio Ducal Teatro alla Scala. In 1782, possibly thanks to Sarti, he was appointed first viola player in the Parma orchestra, becoming its leader and conductor in 1792. In 1802, on the death of the Duke of Parma, he was summoned by the impresario Ricci to conduct the La Scala orchestra, where he remained until 1833, directing operas by Mozart, Mayr, Paer, Rossini, Bellini, the young Donizetti and Mercadante. He also served as first violinist and conductor of the court orchestra of Viceroy Eugenio di Beauharnais from 1805, and from 1808 to 1835 he was first professor of violin and viola at the newly opened Milan Conservatory.
Continuing the northern Italian tradition of Sammartini and others, Rolla was very active in the field of instrumental music. In 1813 he performed excerpts from Beethoven's Prometheus music at La Scala and gave private performances of Beethoven's fourth, fifth and sixth symphonies in Milan, and in 1823 he gave the first public performance of a Beethoven symphony at La Scala. After retiring from the conservatory he began private performances of chamber music in his own home; here too he was a pioneer in his emphasis on Beethoven. One of those involved, from 1840 onwards, was the young Antonio Bazzini, later the leading Beethoven interpreter in Italy.
Rolla's compositions, which number some 500 or more, relate to both the Italian instrumental tradition (particularly that of Boccherini) and the Viennese Classical style. His solo concertos reveal the influence of Mozart in the short development sections of their sonata form movements and the clear structural separation of soloist and orchestra; the solo writing is technically demanding, although it requires nothing like the supreme virtuosity of Paganini. The viola concertos, inexplicably neglected by 20th-century performers, are idiomatically written for the instrument. The symphonies are each in a single movement in the form of an Italian opera overture; in some the treatment of the orchestra and the thematic style contain superficial echoes of Mozart, while in others Rolla prefers a freer form with much concertante work between strings and woodwind. In his chamber music Rolla displays his increasing familiarity with Beethoven's music: for example, the opening of the F minor Quartet of op.2 openly recalls that of Beethoven's op.18 no.1. The formal and tonal schemes of Rolla's quartets make them the closest of his works to Viennese classicism.
Source:
Antonio Rostagno. ""Rolla, Alessandro."" In Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online, http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com.ezproxy.mnl.umkc.edu/subscriber/article/grove/music/23709 (accessed February 16, 2011)
