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If there ever was a composer, deserving of the banal epithet ‘unjustly neglected’, it is Michele Mascitti (1663/4–1760). Born near Naples and trained there, he came to Paris in 1704, remaining in France until his death. There he served a variety of patrons and achieved enormous popularity among the large section of the French (and also international) public captivated by the Italian style. This popularity was encapsulated by the universal emplopyment of a Gallicized version of his forename – Michel or Miquel – as a nickname. He rarely played in public, and his fame rested mostly on a series of nine publications, all featuring one or more violins, issued between 1704 and 1738. Mascitti was a follower of Corelli, but not merely that. His music has charming French inflections, is perfectly structured, and contains attractive and very skilfully developed thematic material.
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