Pierre Gaviniès (Bordeaux 11 May 1728 – Paris 8 September 1800) was a French violinist, pedagogue and composer.
Son of a luthier, Gaviniès was taken to Paris by his father in 1734. At age 13 he made his debut at the Concert Spirituel in Les Tuileries playing a Jean-Marie Leclair sonata for two violins. Sometime around 1753 he received a prison sentence as the result of an affair with a Countess.
In 1762 he reached the peak of his career. Giovanni Battista Viotti described him as the French Tartini, a singular compliment. Jean Godefroy Eckhard, Leduc L’Ainé, Rodolphe Kreutzer, and Romain de Brasseure dedicated works to him. The cellist Martin Berteau named a sonata “La Gavinies”.
His seminal work is the 24 Matinées published in 1794, a compilation of violin studies that includes extremely complex passages with the main goal of developing bowing facility.
Gaviniès taught violin at the Paris Conservatoire from 1795 until his death.