Orchestral excerpts for 'Verdi' cimbasso

By the early 1870s, Giuseppe Verdi was increasingly dissatisfied with the ‘early’ cimbasso and the ophicleide, and only allowed the bombardon into his on-stage bands. By 1881 he had aided development of a valved contrabass trombone in B-flat from the manufacturer Pelitti. There after, Verdi wrote for the instrument he called a trombone basso, Pelitti called a trombone basso Verdi, and today is called a cimbasso or a ‘Verdi’ cimbasso. The instrument used in these recordings of music from Giuseppe Verdi, Pietro Mascagni, Giacomo Puccini and Ruggero Leoncavallo was built by Romeo Orsi in Milan between 1902-1918.

0:00 Giuseppe Verdi: Otello (1887)
1:00 Pietro Mascagni: Cavalleria rusticana (1890)
1:49 Ruggero Leoncavallo: Pagliacci (1892)
2:54 Giuseppe Verdi: Falstaff (1893)
3:47 Giacomo Puccini: Tosca (1900)

Recorded at St. Cecilia's Hall, Edinburgh in March 2020, with the kind permission of Jenny Nex and Arnold Myers

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