Ole Bull: 'Siciliano e Tarantella' (bassoon and piano)

I recorded this tribute to Norwegian violinist Ole Bull (1810-1880), with my accompanist, Geoffrey Wieting, on October 8, 2011. It features Bull's 'Siciliano e Terantella,' performed with bassoon and piano instead of violin and piano. During my research on Ole Bull, as I prepare for our Longfellow Choral Festival, March 2, 3, 4 and 5, 2012, 'Ole Bull, Longfellow & Elgar: Scenes from the Saga of King Olaf,' I have gotten to know a number of Bull compositions.

'Sicilian e Terantella,' was especially popular with Bull's American audiences from the early 1840's in Boston to the late 1870's from West to East. What shines through is the warmth of Ole Bull's personality.

Upon hearing Siciliano for the first time in Boston in 1845, Margaret Fuller wrote, "The music this evening plunged me into anguish, and raised me to rapture . . . . His manner in playing it; the hair jerked over his forehead and the entranced look of his eyes in the wild, full part, gave us an idea of the excitements of gambling; the redoubling and tripling of the force upon this part produce indescribable sensations; here was electricity again, but no longer mild;—fiery, rapid, intense; his electricity and ours arrested, spent, lavished on the strike of the bow. . . ."

I adapted this version from Bull's manuscript violin/orchestra/piano scores in the Ole Bull Papers of Yale's Irving S. Gilmore Library.

Of course, it sounds even better on violin. A bassoonist cannot play the numerous quadruple stops Bull was famous for.

Our Longfellow Choral Festival 2012 will highlight the friendship between Ole Bull and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882), and features Norwegian violin luminaries Arve Tellefsen and Henning Kraggerud.

The Longfellow Chorus will present two rare performances of Elgar's cantata, 'Scenes from the Saga of King Olaf,' in South Portland, Maine, on March 3 and 4, 2012. Elgar's text comes from Longfellow's 1863 'Tales of a Wayside Inn,' featuring a fictional Ole Bull as musical storyteller of the King Olaf saga.

For more information, please visit www.longfellowchorus.com

Charles Kaufmann, Artistic Director
The Longfellow Chorus
PO Box 5133
Portland, Maine 04101

director@longfellowchorus.com

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Classical
• Tarantella (ballet)
• Classical Music
• Piano
• Classical Period (music)
• Violin
• bassoon
• Chip Kaufmann
• Yale
• Irving S. Gilmore Library
• Arve Tellefsen
• Henning Kraggerud
• Norway
• Bergen
• Maine
• Ballet
• Orchestra
• Flute
• Live Music
• Organ
• Margaret Fuller
• Portland
• Jazz
• Folk

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