Gabriele Leone (born Naples c. 1735 – 1790) was an Italian musician and composer who lived in Paris during the middle and later part of the 18th century.[1] A virtuoso on the violin and mandolin, he wrote an early mandolin method, Analytical method for mastering the violin or the mandolin in 1768 and composed for both instruments.[1][2] He was an early teacher of the duo method, an advanced technique which would reappear in the 20th century, taught by Giuseppe Pettine in the United States.[3]
In the 1700s, the mandolin spread across Europe for the first time, through performances by masters of the instrument.[3] Leone was one of those early masters who spread the mandolin in Europe, giving concerts and teaching.[3] He spent time in London (1762–1763) as director of the London Opera before returning to Paris where he performed at the Concert Spirituel from 1760 to 1766.[3][4] One of his students was Louis Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, the father of King Louis Philippe I (the last French king).[3][4]
He referred to himself on the covers of his works as Mr Leone de Naple (Monsieur Leone of Naples).[1]
His mandolin method was meant to help students of the violin switch to the mandolin, "from bow to feather" without the need for a teacher, using sheet music marked with "conventional signs" to guide learners.[5] Feathers were used as plectrums in that era, as they had been when playing the mandore. The method contained 26 dancing tunes, 6 minuets, 2 duos, a sonata and some airs.[1]
Leone, a French musician who lived in Paris during the middle and latter part of the eighteenth century. He was a violinist and mandolinist , and is known as the author of a volume which was published in Paris in 1770, entitled Analytical method for mastering the violin or the mandolin.
Methode raisonnee pour passer du violon a la mandoline et de l'archet a la plume, ou Le moyen seur de jouer sans maitre en peu de temps par des signes de convention assortis a des exemples de musique facile.