Pablo de Sarasate - Introduction et Tarantelle, Op 43 (audio + sheet music)

Composer: Pablo de Sarasate
Piece: Introduction et Tarantelle, Op 43
Performer: (Augustin Hadelich, violin/piano)

Pablo Martín Melitón de Sarasate y Navascués (10 March 1844 – 20 September 1908), commonly known as Pablo de Sarasate, was a Spanish (Navarrese) violinist, composer and conductor of the Romantic period. His best known works include Zigeunerweisen (Gypsy Airs), the Spanish Dances, and the Carmen Fantasy.

The talent of Pablo de Sarasate was recognised early on when he gave his first violin recital in northern Spain aged eight, later catching the ear of Queen Isabella II whose patronage enabled him to study at the Paris Conservatoire. After solo debuts in the French capital and London, his renown as an international violinist flourished, and his ability to draw large audiences and command huge fees owed much to his technical facility and purity of tone. While George Bernard Shaw was less impressed by Sarasate’s interpretative insights, Carl Flesch asserted ‘The history of violin playing cannot be imagined without him’.

Sarasate’s own compositions were designed mainly to showcase his technique and his 54 opus numbers all feature works for the violin, either with the piano or orchestra. Best known amongst these are the Zigeunerweisen (1878), four books of Spanische Tänze and his Carmen Fantasy (1883). His 1899 Introduction et Tarantelle, Op 43, originally for violin and piano, is a work of considerable appeal and scintillation. Like so many of his works, it is divided into two sections; a slow and eloquent Moderato (where soaring phrases extend across the whole range) yields to a passage of rapid arpeggios that leads to a brilliant tarantella, providing the soloist with an exhilarating workout.

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