Alessandro Rolla (1757-1841) was widely acknowledged in his time as a violin and, especially, viola virtuoso, composer and teacher, though now practically unknown. He gained some consideration as a teacher of Paganini: some of the technical innovations that Paganini later used widely, left-hand pizzicato, chromatic ascending and descending scales, the use of very high positions on violin and viola and octave passages, were first introduced by Rolla. He also taught Cesare Pugni (1802-1870), the prolific composer of ballet music.
