Unico Wilhelm van Wassenaer
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Count Unico Wilhelm van Wassenaer (born November 2 1692, Delden, Republic of the Seven United Netherlands – died November 9 1766, The Hague) was a Dutch diplomat and composer. His most important compositions are the Concerti Armonici, which have been until recently falsely attributed to Giovanni Pergolesi.
Van Wassenaer studied law and other courses in Leiden. In 1723 he married Dodnea Lucia van Goslinga, who gave him three children.
Between 1725 and 1740 he wrote the Concerti Armonici, but being a nobleman he did not want to publish them in his own name (or because he doubted his ability as a composer). The concertos were published in 1740 by the Italian violin player Carlo Ricciotti (1681–1756), to whom the concertos would be attributed at first.
According to the Polish composer François Lessel (1780?–1835), the concertos were written by Pergolesi. Since the style of the concertos is Italian, laid out in typical Roman fashion with four parts for violin and consisting of four parts instead of the Venetian three, they are comparable to works by Giovanni Mossi or Pietro Locatelli.
However, in 1979 a manuscript of the six concerti was found in the archives of Twickel Castle (the castle where Van Wassenaer was born), labelled 'Concerti Armonici'. Although the handwriting was not by Van Wassenaer, it did have an introduction in his hand, reading: "Partition de mes concerts gravez par le Sr. Ricciotti". Because of the research done by Albert Dunning (A Master Unmasked, Utrecht, 1980) there can be no doubt that the concerti were written by Van Wassenaer.
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