Mercadante: Music for Solo Flute

Featuring

Laura Trapani
Saverio Mercadante

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Composer Biography

Gioachino Rossini, a famous Italian composer, was greatly impressed by Mercadante, stating in a letter to Mercadante's teacher, Zingarelli, 'I congratulate you: your student Mercadante begins where we end.'

Performer Biography

Laura Trapani, the flutist on this album, has collaborated with several national orchestras as first solo flute and is the artistic director of concert seasons in Alto Frignano and Ferrara.

Compositional Technique

The 'Dieci Arie Variate' for solo flute are based on popular operatic melodies by composers like Rossini, Mozart, and Paër, transforming them into variations for a single-part flute texture.

Composer's Artistic Vision

Mercadante initiated operatic reforms in Italy, emphasizing opera as drama and giving the orchestra a more independent role, though he maintained that Italian audiences preferred 'delicate things' and 'beautiful Songs' over overly declamatory music.

Compositional Technique

The 'Sette Capricci' for solo flute, composed during Mercadante's student years, function as a systematic teaching method, covering various tonalities and technical challenges for the instrument.

Composer Biography

Saverio Mercadante, a prolific 19th-century opera composer, had his birth details forged to allow him entry into the Collegio di S. Sebastiano conservatory in Naples, as he was over-age and not a Neapolitan.

Composition History

Mercadante's early instrumental works, including many for flute, were composed before his operatic career took off, a common practice for young Italian composers of his era.