Complete Encyclopaedia of Music/B/Bassani, giovanni battista
Bassani, giovanni battista, of Bologna, the violin master of Corelli, was a pupil of Carissimi, and a man of extensive knowledge and abilities in his art, having been not only a successful composer for the church, the theatre, and the chamber, between the years 1680 and 1703, but an excellent performer on the violin. His sonatas for the violin, and accompaniments for that instrument to his masses, motets, psalms, and cantatas, manifest a knowledge of the finger-board and bow, which appears in the works of no other composer anterior to Corelli ; and the lovers of' the pure harmony and simple melody of that admirable master would still receive great pleasure from the performance of Bassani's sonatas for two violins and a bass.