Paganini, Niccolò / arr. Wilhelmj, August

Preface

Paganini, Niccolò / arr. Wilhelmj, August

First Violin Concerto in D Major (Free transcription by August Wilhelmj)

(b. Genoa, October 27, 1782 – d. Nice, May 27, 1840)

Preface
With the gradual emergence of the concept of “fidelity to the composers,” many works that fall in the category of arrangements and transcriptions have received less and less attention from performers and scholars alike. August Wilhelmj’s freie Bearbeitung (free transcription) of Paganini’s first violin concerto, for instance, is an example of an authentic nineteenth century transcription of a major violinist’s work by another very important virtuoso of that era. In the twentieth century, such transcriptions by Wilhelmj (and others like Kreisler) have generally fallen into oblivion. However, one has to realize that transcription was a very common and popular practice in the nineteenth century, especially for virtuosic repertoire. Indeed, based on contemporary accounts of Paganini’s performing style, it can be argued that a transcription à la Wilhelmj is in fact more historically informed than a mere rendition of the notes as supposedly played by Paganini himself.1 Given Wilhelmj’s importance in the history of violin playing and his many changes in Paganini’s score, this arrangement can illuminate various facets of Wilhelmj’s violin technique and compositional talents. Even more broadly, using transcriptions such as this can lead to modern performances that are freer in scope and allow for incorporating more subjectivity that is so essential to the performance of virtuoso repertoire.

Ever since the rise of instrumental music as a separate discipline in the Early Modern era, transcriptions and arrangements of vocal and instrumental works for other instruments have constituted an important part of the Western music tradition. These arrangements could serve different purposes; from acting as equivalents of modern CDs—in a pre-recording era—that allow for repeated hearing of favorite works, to being springboards for the display of virtuosity in compositional techniques. In the nineteenth century, with the rise of traveling solo performers, these transcriptions took a different form, and transformed into tools in the hands of the virtuoso performers who, in addition to presenting works requiring large orchestral forces for smaller settings,2 could showcase their virtuosity in the process.

The most instrumental figure in this shift was the Italian virtuoso Niccolò Paganini. Paganini’s innovations in violin technique, his charismatic appearance, and the numerous rumors that surrounded him, made him not only the most celebrated violinist of his time, but left an enormous impression on many of his contemporaries, including such eminent composers as Liszt, Schumann, and Berlioz. Even during Paganini’s lifetime, many composers transcribed his works to adapt them to other media and emulated the peculiar idiomatic passages of the violin for different instruments. Paganini composed works that primarily served to display his own impeccable mastery of the violin, and naturally his output consists mostly of works for the violin, including six concertos for violin and orchestra.

Paganini’s violin concertos are considered some of the cornerstones of virtuosic violin repertoire. While for a long time it was commonly believed that Paganini composed only two concertos, the recent discovery of four other concertos has extended the number to six. However, none of these concertos were published during Paganini’s lifetime. The First Violin Concerto (Op. 6) was …

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