Sarasate, Pablo de

Pablo Sarasate

Caprice Basque (Capricho vasco) Op. 24

(b. Pamplona, 10 March 1844 – d. Biarritz, 20 September 1908)

Pablo de Sarasate was born in Pamplona, (Navarre) the son of an army bandmaster. Pablo displayed remarkable talent as a violinist at an early age, performing his first public concert at the age of eight in La Coruña (Galicia). His extraordinary talent caught the attention of a wealthy music-loving patron, the Countess of Espoz and Mina. Her financial support eventually allowed young Pablo to move to Madrid to further his studies. The media was already taking notice of his abilities as evidenced in a review by the Gaceta musical de Madrid in 1855: “Sarasate, infant prodigy, at the age of nine (he was actually eleven) has the talent of a true artist. He has a bright and flawless technique, remarkable intonation, self-assurance on stage, and a wonderful sense of phrasing. He is so natural, exciting the enthusiasm and admiration of the audience, which could hardly believe what they were hearing at the moment.” (Gaceta musical de Madrid, 10/06/1855.)

At the age of 12, his patroness supplied him with a Stradivarius violin as well as the necessary funds to study in Paris, gaining admission to the violin class of Jean-Delphin Alard at the Paris Conservatoire. After only one and one half years of study he won the coveted first prize in violin. The Revue et Gazete musicale de Paris described the public concert that was a requirement before the awarding of this prize in this way: “Seventeen violinists came to the stage, among them the young Spaniard, Sarasate, pupil of Alard, whose talent is very well known in the Conservatory. This child not only plays the violin as a master but he is also as musical as the music itself. He has been awarded a first prize in music theory and has deciphered everything as if he had already memorized it, with perfect taste, with feeling, with style. There were excellent students besides him, with many more years of work behind them, but they played and sight read much worse. Between the young Sarasate and the rest of the students was the same difference as between a first-order virtuoso like Rode, Lafont, or Bériot, and a perfect orchestra violinist.” (Revue et Gazette Musicale de Paris, 09/08/1857).

He gradually gained success as a soloist and by the 1870s was performing in important venues in Europe, England, Scandinavia, North and South America. He wrote in a letter in 1889 of what by then was a typical schedule: “I‘ve led a dizzying life … I left Paris in late October, and visited all Switzerland, Holland and a big part of Germany, not counting what we have left to go before going to London. My concerts in Berlin have been magnificent and every time we had to turn away more than a thousand people. The hall behind the orchestra is full of people, and there were fans waiting for me after twelve o’clock to give me a standing ovation.” (Altadill, J., Memorias de Sarasate, p. 56.)

On his tours he performed works by other composers, among them music written for him such as the Lalo – Symphonie Espanole, Bruch – Scottish Fantasy, Saint-Saens – Concerto No. 3, Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso and Havanaise. However a good deal of his concert repertoire consisted of the 54 works with opus numbers that he had written. They all display his incredible virtuosity, with the majority incorporating Spanish folk melodies and dances. They capture some of the essence of Spain and are above all brilliant showpieces to display his beautiful sound, melodic expression, elegant phrasing and technical wizardry. Carl Flesh, the great virtuoso performer and violin pedagogue wrote of Sarasate: “When all is said and done, he remains one of the greatest and most individual figures of the nineteenth century—the ideal embodiment of the salon virtuoso of the greatest style. The history of violin playing cannot be imagined without him.”

Caprice Basque (Capricho vasco) Op. 24 (for violin and piano) was composed in 1880 and dedicated to the composer, conductor and pianist Otto Goldschmidt, a pupil of Mendelssohn. It begins with the rhythm and gestures of a typical Basque folk dance called Zortziko. Sarasate was no doubt familiar with Basque culture, as his hometown of Pamplona is next to Basque Country. This Basque dance is traditionally performed in a 5/8 meter, often utilizing this pattern as an ostinato:

(picture ex) ….

Sarasate composed the first half of his Caprice in a ¾ meter but does employ a dotted rhythm ostinato in the piano accompaniment. The second half is in 6/8 with again the piano serving a simple accompaniment role. The violin part is a virtuoso tour de force, with its harmonics, double and triple stops, fast passages, and left hand pizzicatos. It is today still a favorite of both violinists and audiences.

Karl Hinterbichler, University of New Mexico, 2016

For performance material please contact Simrock, Berlin.