24 Caprices for Violin solo: Urtext edition

24 Caprices for Violin soloPierre Rode (1774-1830) was one of the founders of the French violin school at the end of the 18th century, this violinist bears striking testimony to his technique with his "24 Caprices en Forme d'Études" in all keys which were dedicated to François Joseph Philippe de Riquet (1771-1843) Comte de Caraman and the 16th Prince de Chimay from 1804 to 1843, possibly in a friendly relationship with Kreutzer and Baillot. To this day, these Caprices are a milestone in the study and development of violin learning in both conservatories and music universities, although in most cases, they are approached after Kreutzer's "42 Etudes" (available as Roisber Narvaez Verlag in Urtext version RN 6). These pieces are dogmatic par excellence for recital performance. Rode writes high demands on the right hand with the use of legato and complications in string crossings, however, in the left-hand formidable difficulties and demands abound in position changes with large intervals, trills, and as far as the double strings are concerned he mainly focuses on thirds, sixths, and octaves, although the slow movements offer the opportunity for vibrato practice they also work for expressiveness and sound management. Unlike Paganini's "24 Caprices" he makes no use of left-hand pizzicato, overtone phrases or continuous tenths.Our main source is the first Paris edition of 1819, Jacques-Joseph Frey, legal successor of the Magasin de musique, the publishing company where Rode was involved as editor until 1811, in this publication the composer's original fingerings and bowings are reproduced, as the Leipzig edition was in charge of C. F. Peters, also in 1819, however, when comparing between the two editions, at least as far as articulation, dynamics and fingerings are concerned, we quickly understand that they were prepared from different manuscripts, unfortunately neither manuscript has survived, still, it is a very useful edition when making queries in the musical text adopting here our usual fastidious attention to veracity and critical wisdom, some possible solutions have been placed in square brackets by the publisher, Roisber Narvaez Verlag, the best choice for musicians. Read more