This soft, gentle volume needs to be maintained as the music moves into a more chromatic section in B major that continues to feature giant leaps in the right-hand and bars that begin with rapid, decorative turns.īy around the third page of ‘La Campanella’, Liszt starts to add a whole new level of challenge. When you consider that the theme is in the lower notes of the right-hand, then this is another immediate challenge. It is important in the opening bars of the composition not to lose the lightness of touch and remember the dynamic marking of the piano (softly).
As a pianist, octave leaps are perfectly manageable but as Liszt pushes the comfortable interval, and the speed is quite fast, accuracy can be difficult to achieve. It might lead you to think that the composer had particularly large hands but in fact, Liszt did not have unusually large hands just strong, dexterous ones that made leaps as you find in ‘La Campanella’ quite manageable. The stretches of up to two octaves that Liszt demands are the first challenge that is a feature of the entire work. Following the bell-like first three bars, Liszt begins to turn up the technical heat. Liszt opts for a 6/8 time signature and the work begins quite gently. Unlike the original Paganini concerto, Liszt chooses the key of G-sharp minor for his homage, which in itself can deter even the hardiest of pianists.Īt a first glance the ‘tempo’ of ‘La Campanella’ marked at ‘Allegretto’, doesn’t seem too daunting even with the accompanying key signature. Liszt then borrowed the melody for ‘La Campanella’ from Paganini’s ‘Second Violin Concerto’ in B minor: the final movement that features a handbell. Liszt had met Paganini and been incredibly impressed with his astonishing ability to play the violin. Paganini's Caprice Number 24, from his Twenty-Four Caprices for Solo Violin (Opus 1), is widely considered one of the most difficult pieces for violin solo, and has served as an inspiration for many composers.As you might very well expect, given the virtuosic reputation Paganini cultivated during his lifetime, ‘La Campanella’ is an extremely challenging work to play. He was one of the most celebrated violin virtuosi of his time, and his works had profound influence on the evolution of violin techniques. Niccolò Paganini (1782 - 1840) was an Italian violinist, violist, guitarist, and composer. Liszt composed an extensive and diverse body of works, which influenced subsequent composers such as Richard Wagner, Hector Berlioz, Camille Saint-Saëns, Edvard Grieg, and Alexander Borodin. He was said by his contemporaries to have been the most technically advanced pianist of his age and perhaps the greatest pianist of all time. During the 19th century he was famous throughout Europe for his great skill as a pianist. The work has been arranged by other composers and pianists, for example by Ferruccio Busoni and Marc-André Hamelin.įranz Liszt (1811 - 1886) was a Hungarian composer, pianist, conductor, and teacher. La campanella's melody comes from the final movement of Niccolò Paganini's Violin Concerto Number 2, in which the tune is reinforced by a little handbell. La campanella ( Italian: the little bell) is the nickname given to the third of the six Grandes étude s de Paganini ( Grand Paganini Études), S.
0 kommentar(er)
