Carmelo de Barberi: Rimembranze sul Trovatore (Memories of Il Trovatore by G.Verdi) for double bass & piano (ed. David Heyes)

About the Composition

The world of opera has long inspired musicians to transcribe popular arias and choruses for a wealth of solo instruments and ensembles. The double bass world is no different and our solo repertoire features wonderful music arranged from the greatest operas of the 18th and 19th-centuries.

Carmelo De Barberi’s vibrant and virtuosic transcription of popular arias from Verdi’s Il Trovatore was completed on 19 November 1914 and has remained in manuscript until this first edition. In one extended movement and in clearly defined sections, it emphasizes and exploits the lyrical and sonorous range of the double bass across its solo register, with an accompaniment which both supports and drives the music forward.

Aimed at the advanced bassist, there are musical and technical challenges in equal measure in music which is beautiful, dramatic and passionate.

The original manuscript only includes a few bowings and articulations, which are shown in the solo part of both piano scores, and this edition includes a separate solo double bass part which has new bowing suggestions.

This edition includes piano accompaniments for both solo and orchestral tunings.

About the Composer

Carmelo De Barberi was born in Palermo (Sicily) on 7 November 1863, the son of double bassist Francesco Paolo De Barberi and Anna D’Amico, and lived and worked in Palermo for most of his life. He studied double bass with his father, alongside violin and piano lessons with local musicians, and later studied composition at Palermo Conservatoire with Pietro Platania (1828-1907). He married Rosa Allegra in the city on 3 April 1884.

De Barberi was a double bassist at Teatro Bellini in Palermo and, following the death of his father, was promoted to Teatro Politeamo Garibaldi (Palermo). In 1882 he was appointed conductor at the Teatro Filarmonico in Tunis (Tunisia) and from 1885 until 1923 taught double bass at the Real Collegio do Musica in Palermo.

In 1894 De Barberi founded the Societa L'Arte Melodrammatica, to promote traditional Sicilian melodies and canzonettas, alongside composing a number of operas, songs, vocal and instrumental music, and composed at least two operatic fantasias for double bass and piano.

Carmelo De Barberi died in his home city on 25 February 1944.

We are grateful to the Chief Librarian at Conservatorio di Musica Alessandro Scarlatti in Palermo (Sicily) for providing a copy of the manuscript and for permission to publish this piece for the first time.