Paganini, Caprice No 24 in A minor

One of the greatest treatises on music in the history of the violin is Niccolo Paganini's 24 Caprices for Solo Violin, which represents the pinnacle of the development of the instrument´s technique. Their impact reached even beyond the violin, inspiring composers like Chopin and Liszt, for example, to devise their respective Études for piano. Moreover, the technical feats that Niccolo lavished in his performances largely motivated Franz Liszt to replicate on the piano what the Italian master was doing on the violin.

The twenty-four pieces were composed over a long period, between 1802 and 1817, and finally published as a whole in 1820, when the master was forty-eight years old. Despite his somewhat cadaverous appearance, he is living the best stage of his life. Paganini is wealthy and famous. He is also generous, and addresses the 1820 dedication to "gli musici", to the musicians, to everyone.
Nor does he lack humor; years later, perhaps thinking of a later edition, he writes on the originals a note dedicating each Caprice to 23 fellow composers, among them Liszt, Vieuxtemps, Spohr, Thalberg, Kreutzer. But he has reserved Caprice No. 24 for himself, annotating after his name: "regrettably buried".

Caprice No. 24 in A minor
It is precisely Caprice No. 24 that attracted the attention of the public and authors of the time (also of our days), who, inspired by the piece, created a significant number of arrangements and variations for various instruments and instrumental ensembles. Among those arising in the 19th century, let us note: Rhapsody on a theme of Paganini by Rachmaninoff, Études on Paganini, by Liszt, also those of Schumann, the Variations on a theme of Paganini by Brahms. A long etcetera follows, conceived by less renowned authors. In our days, let us point out the jazzy arrangement by Benny Goodman.

Theme and variations
Marked quasi presto, the piece is less than five minutes long. Despite its short duration, it is constructed in the form of a theme and variations, exactly eleven variations, plus a finale. A wide variety of advanced, highly demanding techniques are present: very fast scales and arpeggios, double and triple trills, left-hand pizzicato, parallel octaves and tenths, rapid leaps, and string crossings... Nothing seems to be beyond the reach of the violinist who had a pact with the devil.

The rendition is by the Russian master Maxim Vengerov. Brilliant interpretation, although one must regret the liberties taken by the cameraman or the editor. Too many. One commenter on Youtube wonders if they might have been drunk.

Castrati - Händel - "Lascia ch'io pianga"

The famous castrati began their peculiar history by joining church choirs because women were no longer allowed to sing there. St. Augustine had forbidden them. Later, in the 18th century, I castrati became outstanding opera singers who amazed Europe with their talent. Most of them had been "transferred" to singing schools by their needy parents, hoping they would develop a superb voice that would make them rich and famous. The children were castrated and then sent to these schools, where they received musical and vocal education. A few went down in history as the greatest singers of all time, the famous Farinelli among them.

Castrati had the voice of a woman but the lungs of a man, capable of true vocal feats that to this day have been imitated but not surpassed. Just look at the vocal parts that Händel, Gluck, or Rossini wrote for them, full of technical difficulties of all kinds that make one think that the composers were writing for a special class of singers who, actually, were voice machines or vocal mechanisms more efficient than anything we have ever seen before.

Superstars
So it's no wonder that the castrati were the first superstars of music. Rich, vain, and handsome, they took Europe by storm, spending time with the nobles on equal terms. With the noble ladies, mainly highborn girls in search of exotic and stimulating experiences, they could become lovers without worrying about unexpected pregnancies.

Their love affairs were the talk of Europe. Some took the gay option. But the vast majority, Italians all of them, were recognized as "heart stealers", and one mistress after another fell at their feet:

Caffarelli, famous, almost died at the hands of a jealous husband. No less prominent Senesino eloped with a girl from a good family but ended up in prison. Luigi Marchesi was involved in a big scandal in London when a lady left her husband and children to live with him. Pacchierotti had a thorny affair in Naples that led the lady's lover (ex-lover) to plan to assassinate him. Velluti, in turn, devoted himself to chasing damsels all over Europe until he ended up in Russia living with a Grand Duchess.

There was one last castrato, Alessandro Moreschi, who was a member of the Vatican Choir in the second half of the 19th century. He died in 1922. A few years earlier, in 1906, Pius X had eliminated them by means of a papal bull issued motu proprio.

Lascia ch'io pianga
We salute them all from this modest tribune with the French countertenor Philippe Jarousky performing the "workhorse" of modern countertenors, the aria Lascia ch'io pianga ("Let me weep") from Act II of Händel's opera Rinaldo, premiered in London in 1771.
[Historical data taken from a 1984 New York Times article].

Rossini, William Tell Overture

In 1829, at the age of 37, Gioachino Rossini, until then the most successful composer of operas in all of Europe, abandoned the stage and retired to Passy, his estate on the outskirts of Paris, to cultivate the land and become better at his second passion, gastronomy.
William Tell was his last opera, out of a total of 39 written in the incredible span of nineteen years. Written in French, the work was commissioned by the Paris Opera, and premiered in its halls in August 1829, although with some cutting, as its original length, almost five hours, was considered excessive for the tastes of the time... and for ours, too.

The plot
Set in the 13th century, the opera Guillaume Tell is based on poems by Schiller and tells the story of a Swiss patriot, that is, Tell, who fights against the Austrian troops who have conquered his country. He is imprisoned with his son Jemmy and subjected to the famous challenge of aiming his bow and arrows at an apple that has been placed over Jemmy's head. Guillaume shoots his arrow through the apple, leaving his son unharmed, but makes the mistake of telling his captor that if he had wounded Jemmy, the next arrow would be aimed at him. He is arrested, but manages to escape, later leading a victorious revolt against the Austrian army.

A popular overture
Nowadays, the opera is rarely, if ever, performed. It is rather a rarity. But its overture is by no means so. On the contrary, it has become one of the most familiar pieces to the ear for the common people, able to recognize it immediately even if they do not know its author, let alone know that it belongs to an opera. The popular piece has had the luck, the good luck, of the Waltz of Zwanilde, by Léo Delibes (Coppelia), or the Dance of the Hours, by Ponchielli (Gioconda). Melodies that we can hum instantly, even if the names of Ponchielli or Delibes do not appear in our records.

The Lone Ranger and the March of the Soldiers
We have heard the piece in countless television commercials, various movies, and even in the elevator, but its popularity is mainly due to the television series The Lone Ranger, very popular a few decades ago, from where it began to gallop through the history of commercials, always being present in chases of all kinds.

The complete overture lasts approximately twelve minutes and is made up of four sections. The last of these, Finale, or March of the Swiss Soldiers, attempts to represent (we can see how well it did) a cavalry charge, announced at minute 8:27 by horns and trumpets.

The Santa Monica High School Symphony Orchestra, led by conductor Joni Swenson, performs this version.

Debussy, "La Plus que Lente", waltz

At the beginning of the twentieth century, a particular way of composing waltzes became popular in Paris, constituting a genre in its own right. It was called "slow waltz" and, as you might expect, it was played very slowly. Acclaimed by the public and preferred by the interpreters, the slow waltz swept the Parisian ballrooms and cafes in versions of simple musical groups, which Claude Debussy must have heard more than once, taking the idea somewhat sarcastically, to compose a waltz slower than any other.

Molto rubato con morbidezza
But Debussy's irony in relation to tempo only went as far as the title. The waltz La plus que lente, which could be roughly translated as "the even slower waltz", is a piece for piano (there is an orchestral version by Debussy himself) that should be played at normal speed, in no case with extreme slowness. And this is clear from the tempo indication that Debussy himself marked for the piece: molto rubato con morbidezza, that is, something like "very free and with tenderness", without highlighting any "speed". The title was only humorous, perhaps in an attempt to emulate his former friend Erik Satie.

C. Debussy (1862 - 1918)

The little work, lasting no more than five minutes (considering the obstinate interpreters of the title... there are some) appeared shortly after the publication of Book I of The Preludes, in 1910. By that time, the master had already composed his major works, which he would complete with Book II of the Preludes, in 1912, and the Twelve Etudes, in 1915.

Three years later, colon cancer will end the life of the French composer, in March 1918, at the age of 55, in the middle of the aerial bombardment of Paris, four days after the beginning of the German Spring Offensive. A miserable cortege would accompany the coffin through the deserted streets of a besieged city.

The rendition is by South Korean pianist Seong-jin Cho, winner of the First Prize at the International Chopin Competition, Warsaw, 2015.

John C. Adams: "Short Ride in a Fast Machine", a fanfare

To give a name to a musical work, the title is unusual, no doubt: "Short ride on a fast machine". What exactly does it mean? The question has been asked before. When its author, the American composer John Adams, was asked about the reason for such an unusual title for this exultant fanfare full of rhythm, he did not dwell on it and simply answered with another question: do you know what happens when someone invites you to race in a magnificent sports car and then you regret it?
There is no better answer.

John Coolidge Adams (1947 -)

John Coolidge Adams, born in Massachusetts in 1947, is the author of the famous and controversial opera Nixon in China, from 1987, which brought contemporary history to the opera, thus opening a new genre. In the same line, in the postmodern musical drama, the author has ventured into content such as the life and work of the inventor of the atomic bomb or the terrorist attacks of the last twenty years.

Initially a minimalist composer, the composer has also tackled chamber, orchestral and concertante music. Today, still active, Adams is still in demand by the most important orchestral ensembles as a provider of symphonic material.

Short Ride in a Fast Machine is one of two fanfares for orchestra commissioned from the composer by the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra in 1986.
It is an exuberant work, brilliantly written for a large orchestra, with boundless polyrhythmic energy. Along with the traditional sections of strings, winds and woodwinds, the work includes the participation of synthesizers. And the inescapable timpani are joined by triangles, Chinese box, xylophone, cymbals, bells, snare drum, bass drum, tantan, and tambourine. In short, a festival of percussion. 
If nowadays, one wants to provocatively "open" a program of contemporary music, there is nothing better than to start the show with these four minutes of "fast riding".

The performance is by the BBC Symphony Orchestra, conducted by the American conductor and violinist Marin Alsop.