Giovanni Battista Cirri
Sei trii per violino, viola e violoncello concertanti op. 18
edited by Simone Laghi

(Instrumental Music, 24)

29,7 x 21 cm; XVIII, 94 pp.
Intro and Apparatus in Italian and English

A virtuoso cellist and a refined composer of chamber music, Giovanni Battista Cirri (Forlì, 1724–1808) was a leading figure in the European musical life of the late eighteenth century. After his early years in Italy and a brilliant international career that took him to Paris and London, where he collaborated with Johann Christian Bach and Carl Friedrich Abel, Cirri returned to his hometown as maestro di cappella. The Sei trii per violino, viola e violoncello concertanti Op. 18, published in Venice by Antonio Zatta in 1784, stand as an original contribution to a rare yet precious genre: the Classical string trio. Alongside the brilliant writing for the cello, his instrument of choice, Cirri offers a balanced and lively interplay among the three instruments, with moments of lyricism and rhythmic invention that draw on both the Italian tradition and the European taste of the time. This new critical edition restores to modern audiences a work of great formal elegance and expressive richness, a testament to the art of a musician who masterfully combined virtuosity with chamber sensibility.

Simone Laghi, active both as a scholar and a performer, he is a tenured Professor of Music History at the Niccolò Paganini Conservatory in Genoa. He holds a Second Level Diploma in Musical Disciplines from the “B. Maderna” Conservatory, with specializations in viola, violin, and baroque violin, and earned a Bachelor’s degree in Baroque Violin from the Conservatorium van Amsterdam under Lucy Van Dael. His interest in early music was fostered by studies with Stefano Marcocchi. In 2017, he was awarded a PhD in Music Performance from Cardiff University (UK) for a dissertation exploring string quartet performance practices in late eighteenth-century Italian chamber music. Alongside his academic career, he has performed extensively with leading international ensembles, including Europa Galante, Arte dell’Arco, Accademia degli Astrusi, Academia Montis Regalis, Orchestra del Collegio Ghislieri, and I Barocchisti. His research is devoted to the rediscovery and editing of Italian chamber music from the eighteenth century, with a particular focus on the evolution of the string quartet. He has prepared scholarly editions of works by Pietro Nardini, Georg Philipp Telemann, Ferdinando Bertoni (in collaboration with Paola Visconti), and Bartolomeo Campagnoli. His publications have appeared in leading journals such as Ad Parnassum, Eighteenth-Century Music, and Early Music Performer. Combining musicological expertise, editorial skill, and performance experience, Laghi seeks to bridge historical research and practical musicianship, fostering a historically informed approach to the repertoire of the Classical era.