Rossini, G. - Piatti, A. | Soirées Musicales for cello and piano

Rossini wrote his last opera—Guglielmo Tell—in 1829, aged 37, deciding, then, to retire from the composing career, a surprising and peculiar decision. He settled near Bologna in 1830, but few months later returned to Paris and, there, he wrote Les Soirées Musicales, for one or two voices and piano accompaniment. They were published in 1835. At the time, Piatti was 23 years old, and already a very accomplished cellist. The two pieces he decided to arrange for cello and piano were “La Gita in Gondola”, a Barcarola, and “La Danza”, a Neapolitan Tarantella. We do not know exactly when they were given life on the parchment but we know that they were published in 1898 by the German publisher Max Brockhaus, in an edition, though, riddled by mistakes.

Luckily for us, the manuscript in Piatti’s hand survived and brought to the surface the many mistakes the German engraver made while copying it at the time.

The current edition is presented as a full score and a cello part accompanying it, with fingering and bowing suggestions by Piatti himself.