Gabriele Leone

Picture from Analytical method for mastering the violin or the mandolin by Gabriele Leon, published 1768. The page gave information for tuning the mandolin, hand positions on the neck and places near the soundhole to use the plectrum.

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. 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. 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.

In the 1700s, the mandolin spread across Europe for the first time, through performances by masters of the instrument. One of his students was Louis Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, the father of King Louis Philippe I (the last French king). 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.