A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Bini, Pasqualino

by Edward H. Donkin

BINI, Pasqualino, violinist. Born at Pesaro (Rossini's native place) about 1720. He was a favourite pupil of Tartini, to whom he was recommended at the age of fifteen by Cardinal Olivieri. Under Tartini he practised with such diligence that in three or four years time he overcame the chief difficulties of his master's music, and played it with greater force than the composer himself. On returning to Rome, under the protection of Cardinal Olivieri, he astonished the violinists by his performance, especially Montanari, the chief violin-player of the time at Rome, who was generally believed to have died of mortification at the superiority of Bini's talents. Hearing that Tartini had changed his style of playing, he returned to Padua and placed himself for another year under his old master; at the end of which time he is said to have played with wonderful certainty and expression. After his return to Rome Tartini recommended Mr. Wiseman, his English friend, to Bini in the following words, which speak as highly for master as for scholar:—'Io lo mando a un mio scolare che suona più di me, e me ne glorio per essere un angelo di costume e religioso'—'I recommend him to a scholar who plays better than myself, and I am proud of it, as he is an angel in religion and morals'.

[ E. H. D. ]