The 24 Caprices for Solo Violin were written in groups (seven, five and twelve) by Niccolò Paganini between 1802 and 1817. They are also designated as M.S. 25 in Maria Rosa Moretti's and Anna Sorrento'sCatalogo tematico delle musiche di Niccolò Paganini which was published in 1982. The Caprices are in the form of études, with each number exploring different skills (double stoppedtrills, extremely fast switching of positions and strings, etc.)
Ricordi first published them in 1820, where they were grouped and numbered from 1 to 24 as Op. 1, together with 12 Sonatas for Violin and Guitar (Op. 2 and 3) and 6 Guitar Quartets (Op. 4 and 5). When Paganini released his Caprices, he dedicated them "alli artisti" (to the artists) rather than to a specific person. A sort of dedication can be recognized in Paganini's own score, where he annotated between 1832 and 1840 the following 'dedicatee' for each Caprice (possibly ready for a new printed edition):[1] 1: Henri Vieuxtemps; 2: Giuseppe Austri; 3: Ernesto Camillo Sivori; 4: Ole Bornemann Bull; 5: Heinrich Wilhelm Ernst; 6: Karol Józef Lipiński; 7: Franz Liszt; 8: Delphin Alard; 9: Herrmann; 10: Theodor Haumann [it]; 11: Sigismond Thalberg; 12: Dhuler; 13: Charles Philippe Lafont; 14: Jacques Pierre Rode; 15: Louis Spohr; 16: Rodolphe Kreutzer; 17: Alexandre Artôt; 18: Antoine Bohrer; 19: Andreas Jakob Romberg; 20: Carlo Bignami; 21: Antonio Bazzini; 22: Luigi Alliani; 23: [no name]; 24: Nicolò Paganini, sepolto pur troppo (to my self, regrettably buried).
Ferdinand David's first edition was published by Breitkopf & Härtel in 1854. David, as editor, also issued an edition of Caprices with piano accompaniments by Robert Schumann. Another edition by David was issued in two books of 12 caprices each "mit hinzugefügter Begleitung des Pianoforte von Ferdinand David" (with additional piano accompaniment by Ferdinand David) and published by Breitkopf & Härtel (c. 1860).[2]
Unlike many earlier and later sets of 24 pieces, there was no intention to write these caprices in 24 different keys.
Details
Scores
Critical edition by Franco Gulli [it] (Ed. Curci, 1982)[3]
Critical edition by Renato de Barbieri [it] (Urtext, 1990)[4]
Complete set / commercial recordings
In 1940, to celebrate the centenary of Paganini's death, the complete set in the arrangement for violin and piano by Ferdinand David was recorded by the 20-year-old Austrian violinist Ossy Renardy (pseudonym of Oskar Reiss), with Walter Robert on piano (78 rpm's, RCA Victor; CD reprint by Biddulph).[5] This was the world premiere recording of any version of the 24 Caprices.[6] Renardy had played the solo violin version of the 24 in his Carnegie Hall debut the previous October. In 1953, shortly before his untimely death, Renardy recorded the 24 again (on Paganini's Guarnieri del Gesù violin, 'Il Cannone'), in the same arrangement by David, with Eugene Helmer accompanying (2LPs, Remington R-99-146 & R-99-152).[7][8]
In 1947, Ruggiero Ricci[9] made the first complete recording of the 24 Caprices in their original version (Decca).[10] Ricci later made further recordings, as stated below:
1973 | LP | Vox Turnabout TV-S 34528 | + premiere recording of Caprice d'adieu in E major, MS 68 (USA, 1973)
1978 | 2LP | Price-Less C–93042 (CD reprint: Price-Less D12179) | "Golden Jubilee" – recorded direct-to-disc[11] at Soundstage Recording Studio, Toronto, Canada | + Caprice d'adieu in E major, MS 68 + Duo merveille in C major, MS 6 (Toronto, 1978)
1988 | CD | Radio Vaticana 061–003 / Biddulph LAW 016 | performed on Paganini's Guarneri del Gesù "Il Cannone" (Genova, 16–20 April 1988)
1998 | CD | Dynamic CDS244 | 80th Birthday Concert, live in Szeged Synagogue, Hungary | version for violin and orchestra by Laszlo Meszlény (Nos.1–23) and Chris Nicholls (No.24), based on the piano accompaniment composed by Robert Schumann (Hungary, 17 May 1998)
1982 | LaserDisc-NTSC | One Eleven, Ltd. URS-V-91610 | 69 mins. | BBC Scotland, Live television performance (p)1991
1987 | VHS-NTSC | Shar Products Company RR–1 (Michigan University, 10 January 1987) | unedited performance
Other violinists have since recorded the complete set, including:
Malikian, Ara (Warner Classics Apex, 2002) – Warner claim this to be the first complete recording made of the caprices, following the repetition marks included in the autograph score. Total playing time: 100'25
Berman, Pavel (Classica HD, 2013) – Orchestra dei Talenti Musicali – live, Biella, Teatro Sociale, 2013 (version with String Orchestra by Giedrius Kuprevičius)
Boyd, Bonita (flute) (Fleur De Son Classics, 2000) – arranged by Jules Herman for flute
Drahos, Béla (flute) (Hungarian issue – Radioton, 1996) – arranged by Jules Herman for flute. Première recording of the 24 Caprices performed on the flute
Vardi, Emanuel (viola) (Epic SC 6049, 1965) – arranged for viola. Recorded on a 17" Dodd viola in Vardi's home studio
Wihan String Quartet (Nimbus Alliance, 2009)[20] – arranged by William Zinn for string quartet (Wihan SQ: Leos Cepicky and Jan Schulmeister, violins / Jiri Zigmund, viola / Ales Kasprik, cello)
9 variaciones sobre el capricho núm. 24 de Paganini by Manuel Quiroga (1928)
12 variaciones sobre el capricho núm. 24 de Paganini by Manuel Quiroga (1942)
Paganiniana, Variations for violin solo (Tema: Caprice 24; Var. I: Caprice 3; Var. II: Le Streghe; Var. III: Caprice 6; Var. IV: Caprice 14; Var. V: Caprice 21) by Nathan Milstein (1954)[21]
Paolo Pessina – Paganini Variations Op.25 for Violin and Piano ('ad libitum') dedicated to Ruggiero Ricci (1997)
50 Caprice Variations (on Caprice No. 24) by George Rochberg (1970)
Violin and piano
Paganini Variations on the 24th caprice by Eugène Ysaÿe (posthumous ed. 1960)
Trois caprices de Paganini Op. 40 (re-composition of Nos. 20, 21 and 24) by Karol Szymanowski (1918; rev. 1926)
Trois caprices de Paganini Op. 97 (re-composition of Nos. 10, 13 and 22) by Darius Milhaud (1927)
Violin and orchestra
Capriccio dei Capricci (da Paganini, 2 Studi per orchestra di virtuosi), Op. 50, by Franco Mannino (1967)
Piano solo
Etudes after Paganini Caprices, Op. 3 (on Caprices Nos. 5, 9, 11, 13, 19, 16) by Robert Schumann (1832)[22]
6 Concert Etudes after Paganini Caprices, Op. 10 (on Caprices Nos. 14, 6, 10, 4, 2, 3) by Robert Schumann (1833)[23]
Études d'exécution transcendante d'après Paganini, S. 140 (on Caprices Nos. 5+6, 17, 1, 9, 24) by Franz Liszt (1838/40)[24]
Grandes études de Paganini, S. 141 (on Caprices Nos. 6, 17, 1, 9, 24) by Franz Liszt (1851)[25]
Variations on a Theme by Paganini, Op. 35 (Book I & II)] (on Caprice No. 24) by Johannes Brahms (1862/63)[26]
Wariacje na temat Paganiniego (on Caprice No. 24) by Witold Lutosławski (1941; rescored 1979)
Orchestra
re-composition of various Paganini's works as Paganiniana, Op. 65: I. Allegro agitato (on Caprices Nos. 5, 12 and fragments from Nos. 16, 19) by Alfredo Casella (1942)
Paganini Variations, Op. 26 (on Caprice No. 24) by Boris Blacher (1947)
References
^Rosenthal, Albi (1982), "An intriguing copy of Paganini's Capricci", in Monterosso, Raffaello (ed.), Nicolò Paganini e il suo tempo: relazioni e comunicazioni, Genova: Comune di Genova, pp. 235–246
^"Paganini: 24 Capricci per il Violino solo, "dedicati agli Artisti" Op. 1 – Robin Stowell". Archived from the original on 2015-10-02. Retrieved 2015-03-12.
^Paganini 24 Capricci, Rev. F.Gulli – Ed. Curci Milano (1982)
^Paganini 24 Caprices, Rev. R. De Barbieri – G. Henle Verlag (1990)
^CD Symposium 1311, review by Jonathan Woolf on "Music Web International"
^Ossy Renardy on "the Remington site"
^Ossy Renardy on "Maestronet – forum", by Alan Sanders, 2003
^Ruggiero Ricci plays Paganini Caprice No. 24 on YouTube
^"LXT 2588 + LK 4025 – Paganini – 24 Caprices – Ruggiero Ricci". Archived from the original on 2015-04-16. Retrieved 2015-04-16.
^This process records the original sound direct to master discs without using a magnetic tape. Thus the full dynamic range and the original sound are fully preserved.
Philippe Borer, The Twenty-Four Caprices of Niccolò Paganini. Their significance for the history of violin playing and the music of the Romantic era, Stiftung Zentralstelle der Studentenschaft der Universität Zürich, Zurich, 1997
Konstantin Georgiyevich Mostras, 24 каприса для скрипки соло Н. Паганини: методические комментарии [=24 Caprices for solo violin solo by N. Paganini: methodical commentaries] Moscow, Musghiz, 1959 [165 p.]
