Donizetti on the Cello
Gaetano Donizetti (1797-1848, Italy) was, like Verdi (1813-1901) and Puccini (1858-1924), primarily an opera composer. His “bel canto” opera style is characterised by the most beautiful arias but he also – like Rossini (1792-1868) – had a great sense of humour and his instrumental writing is very often also a delight.
His opera “La Favorite” (1840) was written for the Paris Opera and apart from its libretto in french it also conserves the french custom of the time of having an extensive dance (ballet) section in the middle of the opera. Two of these delightful dances are offered here in versions for cello duos. Not only are these dances wonderful, sparkling, lively, italian music but they also make very good studies because each is characterised and unified by its use of certain specific musical figures.
The first dance is an excellent study for spiccato, with a large dose of 2+2 bowings (two slurred and two dotted) and also many reverse bowings (with upbows on the beats).
The second is an excellent study for fast binary-dotted rhythms: