Figaro

Figaro – Concert
transcription from Rossini’s Barber of Seville [edited by Jascha Heifetz 1931]

This mind-boggling transcription was created by
Castelnuovo-Tedesco and his friend, the legendary violinist Jascha Heifetz, in
order to make a brilliantly impressive encore to follow Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s
Second Violin Concerto that Heifetz had commissioned. It was based on the
well-known cavatina Largo al
Factotum from Rossini’s
Barber of Seville, where the fixer extraordinaie, the Barber himself in exuberant form
sings exultantly about how all Seville needs him – Tutti mi chiedono, tutti mi
vogliono. Here we have
Rossini’s most famous crescendo –

Figaro…Figaro…Figaro

Ahimè,
che furia!

Ahimè,
che folla!

Una
alla volta,

Per
carità!

Ehi…Figaro…Son
qua

Figaro
qua, Figaro là

Figaro
su, Figaro giú.

Pronto
prontissimo

Son
come il fulmine

Sono
il factotum

Della
città.

Ah
bravo Figaro!

Bravo,
bravissimo

A
te fortuna non manchera

– all translated
dazzlingly for the violin. All the impossible virtuoso fireworks were clearly
concocted to show off the superb technique of Heifetz and the select few who
can follow in his footsteps.

Castelnuovo-Tedesco
was himself from Florence, son of a rich Jewish banker. His musical career
began spectacularly and he is particularly well-known for his guitar
compositions – over 120 of them – written after he met Segovia in 1932. Like so
many Jewish composers of those times he emigrated to the USA with the help of
Toscanini and Heifetz just before war broke out. Perhaps inevitably he ended up
moving to Hollywood where he became a major film score composer for
Metro-Goldwyn.