Pietro Nardini (Livorno, 1722 - Florence, 1793).
A pupil of Tartini's violin in Padua between 1734 and 1740, he had a brilliant career both as a violinist and as a composer. As a teacher and virtuoso he lived in his native city, Livorno, until the marriage of Emperor Joseph II took him to Vienna in 1760. During his travels as a virtuoso he obtained a writing for the court of Stuttgart where he remained from 1762 to 1765 The archives of the Music of the Royal Chamber and Chapel mention it as the first violin from 1768 onwards. Leopold Mozart wrote words of admiration towards him, while Burney said: He seems the most complete violinist of Italy, his style is delicate, balanced and very refined. Together with Manfredini, Boccherini and his pupil Cambini, Nardini was a pioneer of the string quartet having played together in this training for about six months. In 1782 a collection of six string quartets was published in Florence. His production also included concerts, sonatas (including the famous Sonates avec les Adagios brodes) and duets for violin. For the flute he composed two concerts, two sonatas with basso continuo, two duets and more than a dozen of triosonate for two flutes (or flute and violin) and basso continuo.
The tonality of the sonata presented in this edition, B flat major, was not widely used in 18th century flute writing.