Antonio Vandini

Antonio Vandini (1691 – 1778), a close friend of Giuseppe Tartini, was a cellist and composer. He was an eighteenth-century cellist and composer known for his performances in northern Italy. and spent most of his career as first violoncellist of the “Veneranda Arca” at the Basilica del Santo in Padua, where Tartini served as first violinist and concertmaster. Upon the death of Tartini, he returned to Bologna, the city of his birth, where he died in 1778. Career Vandini was born in 1691 in Bologna, though next to nothing is known about his early life or musical training. His first documented playing position is at the church of Santa Maria Maggiore in Bergamo which he obtained in April of 1720. Concurrently he was also Maestro di violoncello at the Ospedale della Pietà in Venice. During this period he was almost certainly performing extensively throughout northern Italy. In June of 1721 he obtained the solo cello position in Padua which he would hold, with a few short hiatuses, for the rest of his career. In Padua he worked with a number of other notable musicians in addition to Tartini, including the Oboist Matteo Bissoli and the organist and Maestro di capella Antonio Vallotti. Th