Le Carnival de Venise

  1. Simon DS
    Simon DS
    From CJ Fox East Yorkshire, 1829/1831
    This was about ten years after Napoleon died. In someone’s notebook, probably copied from someone who came over from France and taught it.

    VARIATION OF PAGANINI’S VARIATIONS?


    https://youtu.be/y9TlBgJGqk8
  2. Frithjof
    Frithjof
    It sounds familiar to me… Anyway, well played, Simon!
  3. John Kelly
    John Kelly
    Quite a different treatment from the one I usually hear, Simon, especially in the rhythm and tempo. As Frithjof says, it sounds familiar! Probably your version here better suits the idea of a carnival.
  4. Simon DS
    Simon DS
    Thanks Gents, to me it sounds like three separate Italian tunes stuck together carnival-fashion. I’m just glad they didn’t call it the Italian Jig. It’s interesting though because the title is in French so perhaps it was already played in France.

    I noticed as well, John that in some of these old manuscripts there are at least half of the tunes named ‘English Air’ -I didn’t know such a beast existed. I’ll post an example tomorrow. I think they sound quite good as Airs but as is often the case, they can be played at a rambunctious tempo to good effect.

    And the Play that was first performed more than a hundred years earlier, famed for it’s diversity of spirit.
    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_carnaval_de_Venise

    Perhaps there were other variations that were added ad hoc by the improvising musicians during an evening’s festivities where, for example a fiddler would say, ‘here’s another fragment of an Italian-sounding tune I half remember’? Perhaps the other musician would join in for the second or third time through.
  5. Jess L.
    Jess L.
    Sounds good, Simon!

    Simon wrote: "Perhaps there were other variations that were added ad hoc by the improvising musicians during an evening's festivities where, for example a fiddler would say, 'here's another fragment of an Italian-sounding tune I half remember'? Perhaps the other musician would join in for the second or third time through."

    Lol that brings back memories! Not specific to this tune, or Italian tunes necessarily, but all sorts of stuff.
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