Michele Mascitti

Michele [Michel, Miquel] Mascitti,
(b Chieti, nr Naples, 1663 or 1664; d Paris, 24 April 1760). Italian composer and violinist.

He was taught by his uncle, Pietro Marchitelli, who was attached to the royal chapel of Naples and to the church of S Bartolomeo as a violinist. Marchitelli procured for his young nephew the post of a ‘supernumerary violinist’ in the royal chapel with the prospect of a permanency later, but Mascitti preferred to seek his fortune abroad. Having travelled through Italy, Germany and the Netherlands, he settled in Paris in 1704. He soon attracted the attention of the Duke of Orléans and through him gained the opportunity to play before the king, the dauphin and the whole court. Mascitti became a figurehead of Italian instrumental music in France and was regarded as the peer of Corelli and Albinoni. Possessing the advantage over his fellow-nationals of residence in Paris, where all nine of his published collections were first issued between 1704 and 1738, Mascitti enjoyed enormous popularity with the French public, to whom he was affectionately known by his first name Michele in various gallicized forms. In the Low Countries and England, where his music was extensively reprinted, his reputation was less exceptional, though still considerable. He entered the service of the Duke of Orléans and in later years enjoyed the patronage of the influential Crozat family, lodging at the house of Pierre Crozat. In 1739 Mascitti became a French citizen by naturalization. He married in the following year. His last 20 years seem to have been spent in retirement.