Capuzzi was a famous Italian violinist, composer and pedagogue, noted for his activities in Venice and Bergamo. To his contemporaries he was known by his ballets, yet the present-day bass community recognizes him almost exclusively by his single bass concerto. Although much about his life is still not known, we know that he traveled extensively during the middle part of his career. Beside the manuscript of the concerto located in the Dragonetti collection in the British Library (London), one other bass concerto by him (unfortunately incomplete) is known in the collections of the City of Split Library, Croatia.

Considering that his famous concerto is located in the Dragonetti collection, it is assumed that this piece was performed by Dragonetti, a bass virtuoso who used a three stringed Italian setup – not the Viennese tuning. However, Dr. Josef Focht in his book Der Wiener Kontrabass, classifies this concerto with the Viennese bass repertoire. He presents an argument that the key of D major and the highly idiomatic passage writing characteristic for the Viennese tuning, are sufficient evidence to class this piece so. The praxis can indeed confirm this, as the advantages and the comfort of playing Capuzzi in Viennese tuning become apparent immediately.

By utilizing the advantages of the Viennese tuning, the Capuzzi concerto can actually be performed in two registers: as written – which covers the lower orchestra range of the instrument where the difficulty level is well suited for Viennese tuning beginner, and an octave higher "ala Sperger" performance, where a degree of brilliance may add to the soloist quality of the piece.

In the cited music samples you will hear the higher version performed on the 4 string E flat variant. This is a version that may sound unusual to those who remember Capuzzi from traditional performances.

An initial inspiration to attempt an octave higher performance has been provided by the wonderful lecture on Capuzzi, given by Jeffrey Koczella at the International Society of Bassist Conference in Richmond, Virginia (2003), and his suggestion that the concerto may have been performed in the higher transposition. The result is a Bottesini style, a "factor reale" performance of the 18th Century piece.

Works:

 

Music Samples:

       > Capuzzi, Concerto, First Movement
       > Capuzzi, Concerto, Second Movement

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