24 Caprices for Solo Violin (Paganini)


The 24 Caprices for Solo Violin were written in groups by Niccolò Paganini between 1802 and 1817. They are also designated as M.S. 25 in Maria Rosa Moretti's and Anna Sorrento's Catalogo tematico delle musiche di Niccolò Paganini which was published in 1982. The Caprices are in the form of études, with each number exploring different skills
Ricordi first published them in 1820, where they were grouped and numbered from 1 to 24 as Op. 1, together with 12 Sonatas for Violin and Guitar and 6 Guitar Quartets. When Paganini released his Caprices, he dedicated them " artisti" rather than to a specific person. A sort of dedication can be recognized in Paganini's own score, where he annotated between 1832 and 1840 the following 'dedicatee' for each Caprice : 1: Henri Vieuxtemps; 2: Giuseppe Austri; 3: Ernesto Camillo Sivori; 4: Ole Bornemann Bull; 5: Heinrich Wilhelm Ernst; 6: Karol Józef Lipiński; 7: Franz Liszt; 8: Delphin Alard; 9: Herrmann; 10: ; 11: Sigismond Thalberg; 12: Dhuler; 13: Charles Philippe Lafont; 14: Jacques Pierre Rode; 15: Louis Spohr; 16: Rodolphe Kreutzer; 17: Alexandre Artôt; 18: Antoine Bohrer; 19: Andreas Jakob Romberg; 20: Carlo Gignami; 21: Antonio Bazzini; 22: Luigi Alliani; 23: ; 24: Nicolò Paganini, sepolto pur troppo.
Ferdinand David's first edition was published by Breitkopf & Härtel in 1854. David, as editor, also issued an edition of Caprices with piano accompaniments by Robert Schumann. Another edition by David was issued in two books of 12 caprices each "mit hinzugefügter Begleitung des Pianoforte von Ferdinand David" and published by Breitkopf & Härtel.
Unlike many earlier and later sets of 24 pieces, there was no intention to write these caprices in 24 different keys.

Details

Scores

In 1940, to celebrate the centenary of Paganini's death, the complete set in the arrangement for violin and piano by Ferdinand David was recorded by the 20-year-old Austrian violinist Ossy Renardy, with Walter Robert on piano. This was the world premiere recording of any version of the 24 Caprices. Renardy had played the solo violin version of the 24 in his Carnegie Hall debut the previous October. In 1953, shortly before his untimely death, Renardy recorded the 24 again, in the same arrangement by David, with Eugene Helmer accompanying.
In 1947, Ruggiero Ricci made the first complete recording of the 24 Caprices in their original version. Ricci later made further recordings, as stated below:
Other violinists have since recorded the complete set, including:

Violin and Piano

Especially for compositions in the form of "Variations" see the related article: Caprice No. 24 #Variations on the theme.

Violin solo