G.B. Pergolesi: Sinfonia for double bass & piano (ed. Heyes)

About the Composition

Pergolesi’s Sinfonia is originally for cello and continuo and could have been written for his patron in Naples, Domenico Marzio Caraffa, the Duke of Maddaloni, who was an amateur cellist.

This new edition is aimed at the intermediate bassist, with an accompaniment based on the continuo realisation by Joseph Schmid (1868-1945), with four contrasting movements which are both charming and elegant. The two slow movements explore the lyrical and sonorous potential of the double bass, alongside faster movements which are lively and animated.

The final movement was used by Igor Stravinsky in his popular ballet Pulcinella, composed for Diaghilev’s Ballet Russe in Paris, featuring solos for double bass and trombone.

The edition includes piano accompaniments for both solo and orchestral tuning.

About the Composer

Giovanni Battista Pergolesi (1710-1736) was an Italian Baroque composer, violinist and organist, is considered to be one of the greatest Italian musicians of the first half of the 18th-century and is one of the most important representatives of the Neapolitan school. Although he died at the age of 26, he composed a wealth of music in different genres, notably operas, sacred music and instrumental music, much of which has survived to the present day.