Fiorillo, Federigo - 36 Etudes or Caprices for violin: urtext edition

The composer Federigo Fiorillo (1755–1823) was introduced to music by his father, Ignazio Fiorillo, a Neapolitan composer and Kapellmeister in Braunschweig and Kassel, in northern Germany. Federigo descended from a family of musicians active throughout the eighteenth century.Beginning in 1775, Fiorillo undertook several tours across European courts, and in 1777 he made his public debut as a violin soloist in St. Petersburg and Poland. Some of his early works resulted in three violin concertos published as Opus 3, in three volumes around 1784, issued in Berlin by Johann Julius Hummel. This edition, preserved in the Biblioteca Nacional de España (589 J.J. Hummel), demonstrates Fiorillo’s compositional mastery and his ability to engage with the art of writing for solo violin.Although his most prolific period as a composer arguably took place during his stay in Paris between 1784 and 1788, this phase saw the emergence of works such as the Sinfonie concertante (written for two violins, two flutes, or two oboes), as well as chamber music including Six trios pour deux violons et basse, Op. 2 (1788). That same year, Fiorillo’s renowned collection 36 Études ou Caprices, Op. 3, was also published, originally titled Étude pour le violon formant 36 caprices, œuvre IIIe. This work, pedagogical in nature yet rich in artistic and technical value, remains in use today.This volume, published by RN Verlag, has used as its primary source the first edition of 1788 by Jean-Georges Sieber in Paris, preserved in the Bibliothèque nationale de France, département Musique, L-9102. The title page reads chez le Sr. Sieber Musicien, indicating the father, as Fiorillo’s Parisian publications were issued by both Sieber père et fils.The original manuscript has not survived, but we have consulted the second edition of 1810, which bears the inscription Seconde et seule édition, Revue & corrigée par l’auteur on its title page. This edition was priced at 7f’’50c’’, and its title page and plate number differ from the second edition currently preserved in the British Library (PUBNUM: 996), which was priced at 7f’’10c’’. The revised second edition, reviewed by the composer himself, was donated by Dr. James L. and Dr. Margaret Whitby to the University of Western Ontario. It retains the designation Opus 3 (œuvre IIIe), coinciding with the concertos in D major, A major, and E major. In Hummel’s edition, each concerto appears as Op. 3 No. 1, No. 2, and No. 3. It is likely that Hummel assigned these opus numbers under Fiorillo’s direction, although the lack of coordination between publishers in different cities often led to discrepancies. This duplication reflects the absence of standardized opus numbering in the eighteenth century. For instance, the edition by J.M. Goetz (Mannheim, ca. 1793) lists the work as Op. 4, further illustrating the inconsistency.It is worth noting that some modern editions omit the opus number from the title of the 36 Caprices, due to the historical duplication of Opus 3 across Fiorillo’s works and the editorial variability found in later sources. Nevertheless, the original 1788 edition published by Sieber in Paris clearly identifies this collection as Œuvre IIIe.By the late eighteenth century, the caprice had become established as a free-form instrumental genre, employed by various composers and later famously by Paganini. Although Fiorillo does not follow a systematic tonal order, his work is ideal for advanced students seeking to consolidate their technique, as its pedagogical focus supports progressive technical development. Double stops are present, though less complex than in Paganini; harmonics are not employed, but arpeggios and trills are used to explore the tastiera across multiple positions. Read more