Sentimental Work: Viotti’s Ranz des Vaches

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I have a long-standing relationship with the violinist–composer Giovanni Battista Viotti. I’ve played his music all my life, and I first performed on his 1709 Stradivari in 2006 – and many times since. It can be seen at the Museum of the Royal Academy of Music, where I am Viotti Lecturer in Performance Studies. When I was researching his life I discovered a connection close to home: I grew up on the edge of Epping Forest in east London, which was where Viotti would perform country dances all night for his friends to dance to, during his years of exile from France following the Revolution. Although he was arguably the greatest violinist of the age, he called himself the racleur (‘scraper’), as nothing gave him more pleasure than playing the newest country dances and jigs, late into the night…