ABSTRACT
The earliest series of letters in the Chinnery Family Papers (CFP) collection are twelve letters from Viotti to Margaret Chinnery and three to William Chinnery, dated May–December 1793. They are some of the most interesting from a historical point of view, throwing light on a period of Viotti's personal life unmentioned by any of his biographers. The letters describe his voyage to Italy across the war-torn Continent in 1793, highlighting his second close encounter with the French Revolution. They were written before Viotti moved into the Chinnery home, but betray an intimacy of feeling which leaves us in no doubt that he was already on very close terms with the family. Unfortunately no letters from the Chinnery side of the correspondence survive. All the letters are hand delivered by a Mr Smith, almost certainly Charles Smith, the Chinnery friend with whom Viotti was later to go into a wine partnership.
