Classical Music | Violin Music

Recorded on 01/04/2006, uploaded on 03/01/2009

Musician's or Publisher's Notes

La Campanella (from Concerto No. 2 in b minor)             Niccolò Paganini

Nicolò Paganini practically invented the phenomenon of the touring virtuoso superstar as we know it today. He learned to play the violin from his father, and at age 30 he embarked on a series of vastly popular tours throughout Europe that dazzled all who heard him. Chopin heard Paganini in Warsaw, Liszt heard him in Paris, Schubert heard him in Vienna, and all were amazed at his technical achievement.

Paganini composed his Violin Concerto No. 2 in b minor around 1826. Its last movement has become the most famous. It is a rondo that imitates the sound of ringing high bells, which Paganini called Rondo à la clochette (clochette means "small bell"). It has become universally known under its Italian title, La Campanella.   It is music that purposely allows hair-raising difficulty (much of it written in the violin's highest register) for the sole pleasure of the public. It has an expressive melody, very much influenced by Italian opera of the time. La Campanella inspired transcriptions by other performer-composers, most notably Franz Liszt who was so taken with this movement that he arranged it as one of his Six Grand Etudes after Paganini.    Judy Kang

Courtesy of International Music Foundation.