Concerto No. 1 in E-flat Major - Clarinet and Piano

Eufonia Editions has published for the first time, after the Bertuzzi publication of 1845, one of the two clarinet concertos by Ernesto Cavallini (1807-1874).

Cavallini was undoubtedly one of the greatest clarinetist, not only in Italy, of all time. An eclectic and versatile figure from every point of view, he knew how to gather all the skills of a skilled performer, composer for his instrument, and also a teacher. Coming from a family of musicians (his brother was first violin at La Scala and Verdi dedicated the great Lombardi solo to him) and coming from the prestigious Milanese school of Benedetto Carulli, he showed his incredible instrumental skills at an early age, was part of the first orchestra della Scala, and then emigrated to St. Petersburg where he carried out an intense concert activity, orchestral and didactic, in the newborn local Conservatory. He performed in major European musical centers and also in South America, always finding great successes and spreading his fame everywhere. The famous English clarinetist Lazarus called him the "Paganini of the clarinet." According to the historian Fetis, it is said that he persisted in always playing with a boxwood clarinet with six keys, but from recent research it seems he also had a clarinet from the Milanese company Piana with 12 keys. When he returned from Russia he taught briefly at the Milan Conservatory before dying.

The Concerto No. 1 in E flat major was composed in Milan in 1845 and performed at La Scala by Cavallini himself. This first concerto was followed by a second, composed in St. Petersburg in 1852. The Concerto No. 1 reflects compositional parameters present at the time attributable, for example, to C. M. Von Weber. However, the main reference is to the exquisitely operatic themes of the cantabile themes and the virtuosic parts, which are an essential part of his compositions, tailor-made for his unusual technical skills. It is a gem to be rediscovered and valued in the context of our 19th century Italian clarinet repertoire.