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The greatest violinists before Paganini were Vivaldi, Tartini, Locatelli and Viotti. Originally written for violin and continuo but commonly played solo, sorry I do not have info about the specifics of what exactly is being played.
I would like to direct your attention to Rachel Podger's recording Guardian Angel as a companion and/or alternate recording to some of these works. I can also recommend the book "Tartini His Life and Times" by Lev Ginzburg.
Of all contemporary violinists that seek authenticity in sound and perform on instruments created during or close to the time frame the music that was written, there are three that stand out as favorites: Rachel Podger, Elizabeth Wallfisch, and Andrew Manze. Podger is my favorite but I love all three without question.
As for recordings of more early violin music, I specifically recommend 'Perla Barocca' by Podger and a cd titled 'Early Italian Violin Sonatas' by Wallfisch who has been involved with the musical unit called Convivium that used to use the name The Locatelli Trio that made many wonderful contributions to the catalog of lesser heard baroque violin music.
In order to raise awareness and gain a better understanding of the sequential order of early violin music, I have made a list of early violin composers and the year they were born, simply by doing searches of the names mentioned below and following the recorded repertoire of Podger, Manze and Wallfisch you will find there is much to discover.
dowland 1563
piccinini 1566
monteverdi 1567
cima 1570
fontana 1571
praetorius 1571
frescobaldi 1583
schutz 1585
castello 1590
marini 1594
buonamente 1595
uccellini 1603
bertali 1605
cazzati 1616
rosenmuller 1619
schmelzer 1620?
Isabella Leonarda 1620
locke 1621
legrenzi 1626
mealli 1630
vitali 1632
lully 1632
buxtehude 1637
myslivecek 1737
viviani 1638
stradella 1639
hacquart 1640
biber 1644
albertini 1644
bassani 1647
corelli 1653
pachelbel 1653
muffat 1653
westhoff 1656
marais 1656
torelli 1658
purcell 1659
scarlatti 1660
fux 1660
perti 1661
mascitti 1664
Elisabeth-Claude Jacquet de la Guerre 1665
rebel 1666
couperin 1668
pandolfi 1669
caldara 1670
matteis 1670
caldara 1670
albinoni 1671
bonporti 1672
venturini 1675
Evaristo Felice Dall'Abaco 1675
vivaldi 1678
castrucci 1679
mossi 1680
telemann 1681
valentini 1681
mattheson 1681
rameau 1683
durante 1684
manfredini 1684
js bach 1685
handel 1685
b marcello 1686
porpora 1686
geminiani 1687
pisendel 1687
veracini 1690
tartini 1692
leo 1694
Johan Helmich Roman 1694
locatelli 1695
navara 1695
leclair 1697
gibbs 1698
carbonelli 1700
sammartini 1700
richard jones 1700?
zuccari 1703
graun 1704
gb martini 1706
galuppi 1706
scheibe 1708
pergolesi 1710
arne 1710
cpe bach 1714
gluck 1714
giardini 1716
Gaspard Fritz 1716
stamitz 1717
leopold mozart 1719
hellendaal 1721
nardini 1722
gavinies 1728
haydn 1732
boccherini 1743
cambini 1746
clementi 1752
viotti 1755
fiorillo 1755
shaw 1755
wolfgang mozart 1756
lindley 1756
For a list of violinists and violin music after Mozart, you can review the description contained in my upload for the Lipinski Concerto recorded by Totenberg
• Karol Lipinski Violin ...
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