LindoroRossini's video: Simple pleasures Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari Concertino in F major for Bassoon 1932 ii Presto

≈ History ≈ {based on materials from the Grove Dictionary & Rovi} In a twist of irony, Italian operatic composer Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari (1876-1948) achieved great renown in Germany and spent most of his life traveling between his two homelands {1}. Showing talent in both music and art at a young age, he originally studied at the Roman Accademia di Belle Arti. However, after moving to Munich in 1892 he entered the Tonkunst Academy to pursue a musical education. Despite attempts to establish himself in his country, Wolf-Ferrari experienced his first success in Bremen in 1900-03 with a revised version of his "Cenerentola" (a failure in Venice in its original form). Several successful comedies written for Germany - "Le donne curiose" (1903), "I quattro rusteghi" (1906), "Il segreto di Susanna" (1909) and "L'amore medico" (1913) - followed, the 1911 drama "I gioielli della Madonna" reflecting his to approach to veristic opera. Parallel to his theatric endeavors, Wolf-Ferrari served in 1903-09 as Director of the Liceo Musicale in Venice and by 1939 taught composition at the Salzburg Mozarteum. While he composed during and in between the World Wars, few of his works were as popular as the noted comedies, and today he has fallen into obscurity. {1}: He was, in fact, born Hermann Friedrich Wolf. His father was German, his mother - Italian}. ≈ Music ≈ It is, perhaps, inevitable that one would find some joy from Wolf-Ferrari's elegant style which, as is the case of Dyson, is overtly neoromantic in character. However, if in the case of the latter we are reminded of Elgar and Saint-Saens, in the case of the former we are thrust back a bit further - to Mendelssohn and Weber. In the best examples - the finely ardent Intermezzo of the Suite derived from "I gioielli della Madonna" or the exquisite Overture for "Il segreto di Susanna" - Wolf-Ferrari boasts a wonderfully appealing Italianate musical language aided by clear, endearing orchestration without any great surprises. There is, in fact, an overarching notion of familiarity, as though one had encountered the composer's motives in some other guise. Thus, if one wishes to find novelty or dramatics, Wolf-Ferrari is, perhaps, not the ideal starting place. What he does offer is a warm retrospective of the early Romantic era. The piece in question - an excerpt from the Suite-Concertino - is a case in point. While the work includes an involving opening Fantasia, I ultimately decided to go for the highly enjoyable Scherzo which constitutes the second movement of the work. Considering my propensity to analyze, I find little to note, other than the fact that this is, to put it simply, a piece of "simple pleasure". It is fairly traditional in construction and execution, developing in the expected way as a display piece, albeit a particularly effective one, the bassoon - mainly engaging in a series of good-natured showy runs over a simple string bass line (0:16), the orchestra at times stating the infectious main theme (0:30) or providing sustained lines for a brief melancholic moment from the soloist (1:08). All in all, the scherzo attains the same madcap brilliance that one encounters in Paganini's "La campanella". Simply put, this is the perfect music to brighten one's occasional darker mood, if not enlightenment. Once again - simple pleasures. ≈ Score ≈ No set of sheet music for the presented piece can be found online at this time. ≈ Recording ≈ The Suite is the centerpiece 2009 Chandos catalogue of Wolf-Ferrari's selected orchestral works (mostly derived from his operatic pieces) which boasts expert playing from Karen Geoghegan (Bassoon) and the BBC Philharmonic under Gianandrea Noseda. Hope you'll enjoy =).