Today we are paying a birthday tribute to Jean Baptiste Senaillé who was born this day way back in 1687. Senaillé was a French born Baroque composer and violin virtuoso. His talent was obviously inherited as his father was a member of Les Vingt-quatre Violons du Roi.
Senaillé studied under Jean-Baptiste Anet, Giovanni Antonio Piani. as well as Tomaso Antonio Vitali in Italy from where he imported musical techniques and pieces into the French court.
He wrote around fifty violin sonatas. He is best known for a fast 2/4 movement from one of these sonatas, the Allegro Spiritoso, which has had versions transcribed for a wide variety of instruments, from cello to bassoon and even euphonium.
Sadly, there’s no picture of the violin virtuoso but we have an example of how the Allegro Spiritoso has been transcribed.