Cappelli (ed. Crawford) - Quartetto Variato on Rigoletto for E-flat Clarinet and Piano

Giuseppe Cappelli - Quartetto Variato on Rigoletto for E-flat Clarinet and Piano, edited by Elizabeth Crawford. Quartetto variato is Giuseppe Cappelli’s operatic fantasy for E-flat clarinet and piano based on Verdi’s quartet from Act III of Rigoletto. Adapted from Victor Hugo’s Le Roi S’amuse, the three-act lyric opera was set to a libretto by Franceso Maria Piave. The first performance of Rigoletto took place on March 11, 1851, at the Teatro La Fenice in Venice.

Quartetto variato begins with music from the orchestral tutti of Act III, Scene 1, La donna è mobile, the opera's most famous aria, sung by the Duke. At measure 11, the E-flat clarinet presents the Duke’s aria, Bella figlia dell’amor, which, in the opera, occurs at the Andante, halfway through No. 12, marked Quartetto. Cappelli skillfully assigns the vocal lines of Verdi’s quartet to the E-flat clarinet and inner voices of the piano. A return to the Duke’s La donna è mobile, at the Allegretto ends the main part of the work. Cappelli borrows music of the violin solo from Verdi’s introduction to No. 12 before concluding the piece with original music at the Allegretto comodo (m. 96). Tempo markings are taken from the original 1914 score (Ricordi, Milan), now published by Dover, and are for reference only. Cappelli’s composition is void of tempo indications. Published by Potenza Music.