Antonio Pasculli (13 October 1842 – 23 February 1924) was an

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

oboist An oboist (formerly hautboist) is a musician who plays the oboe or any oboe family instrument, including the oboe d'amore, cor anglais or English horn, bass oboe and piccolo oboe or oboe musette. The following is a list of notable past and pres ...

and composer, known as "the Paganini of the oboe".

Biography

Pasculli was born in

Palermo Palermo ( ; ; , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan province. The ...

, Sicily on 13 October 1842. He lived there his whole life but travelled widely in Italy, Germany and Austria, giving oboe concerts. He directed symphonic and wind orchestra concerts, which were popular in Italy at the time. He also transcribed a large number of

opera Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically ...

pieces for oboe and piano/harp, including works by Bellini,

Donizetti Domenico Gaetano Maria Donizetti (29 November 1797 – 8 April 1848) was an Italian Romantic composer, best known for his almost 70 operas. Along with Gioachino Rossini and Vincenzo Bellini, he was a leading composer of the ''bel canto'' opera ...

Verdi Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi ( ; ; 9 or 10 October 1813 – 27 January 1901) was an Italian composer best known for his operas. He was born near Busseto, a small town in the province of Parma, to a family of moderate means, recei ...

, and

Rossini Gioachino Antonio Rossini (29 February 1792 – 13 November 1868) was an Italian composer of the late Classical and early Romantic eras. He gained fame for his 39 operas, although he also wrote many songs, some chamber music and piano p ...

. One of his well-known works is ''Etude Caractéristique for oboe and piano "Le Api"'' (The Bees) written in 1874 which resembles and precedes

Rimsky-Korsakov Nikolai Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov. At the time, his name was spelled , which he romanized as Nicolas Rimsky-Korsakow; the BGN/PCGN transliteration of Russian is used for his name here; ALA-LC system: , ISO 9 system: .. (18 March 1844 – 2 ...

's "

Flight of the Bumblebee "Flight of the Bumblebee" () is an orchestral interlude written by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (1844–1908) for his opera '' The Tale of Tsar Saltan'', composed in 1899–1900. This perpetuum mobile is intended to musically evoke the seemingl ...

". He died in Palermo on 23 February 1924. Pasculli's works require extraordinary

virtuosity ''Virtuosity'' is a 1995 American science fiction action film directed by Brett Leonard and starring Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe. Howard W. Koch Jr. served as an executive producer for the film. The film was released in the United St ...

on the instrument. His pieces make constant use of arpeggiations,

trill TRILL (Transparent Interconnection of Lots of Links) is a networking protocol for optimizing bandwidth and resilience in Ethernet networks, implemented by devices called TRILL switches. TRILL combines techniques from bridging and routing, and ...

s, and scales, and require the oboist to use

circular breathing Circular breathing is a breathing technique used by players of some wind instruments to produce a continuous tone without interruption. It is accomplished by inhaling through the nose while simultaneously pushing air out through the mouth usi ...

. His output was essentially forgotten early in the twentieth century, and he remained in oblivion until oboists

Heinz Holliger Heinz Robert Holliger (born 21 May 1939) is a Swiss composer, virtuoso oboist, and conductor. Celebrated for his versatility and technique, Holliger is among the most prominent oboists of his generation. His repertoire includes Baroque and Clas ...

and

Omar Zoboli Omar Zoboli (born 1953, Modena) is an Italian oboist, since 1998 till 2018 professor at the Musikhochschule Basel - Switzerland Studies and competitions He studied Oboe under Sergio Possidoni, Heinz Holliger and Paul Dombrecht. Experience and inspi ...

began reviving his music. As a result, some of his works are now available in recordings.

Compositions

Chamber works

* Le Api (The Bees), for oboe and piano * Ricordo di napoli, scherzo brillante, for oboe and piano * Fantasy on themes from Donizetti's 'Poliuto', for oboe and piano * Fantasia on themes from Meyerbeer's 'Les Huguenots', for oboe & piano * Ommagio a Bellini on themes from 'Il Pirata' and 'La Sonnambula', for English horn and harp * Gran Sestetto concertante (after Rossini's Guillaume Tell) (arr. W. Renz)

Concertos

* Concerto on themes from Donizetti's 'La Favorita', for oboe and piano * Gran Concerto on themes from Verdi's 'I Vespri Siciliani', for oboe and piano

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pasculli, Antonio 1842 births 1924 deaths Italian classical oboists Italian male oboists Italian Romantic composers Italian male classical composers 19th-century Italian musicians 19th-century Italian male musicians