Days of Bliss Are in Store

The existing repertoire for the oboe has often been described as being lacking in compositions written during the romantic period. Only recently has there been scholarly study revealing multitudes of sonatas, concertos, and various instrumental combinations of chamber music written during this time by lesser well-known composers from Italy, Germany, Hungary, Austria, and France. Antonino Pasculli (1842-1924) is an Italian oboist and composer of this group whose music is being rediscovered and explored. As a virtuoso oboist who traveled Europe from the age of fourteen, Pasculli began to write fantasias based on themes from famous Italian operas, which was a form that was quite popular at the time. These compositions allowed him to showcase his own technical brilliance on the instrument, and they are still considered to be highly difficult for oboists of today. During the last several decades, many of Pasculli's compositions have been published for the first time, resulting in performances and recordings of his music by oboists from many different countries. Most of these works are for solo oboe or English horn with an accompaniment of piano, harp or orchestra. Only one trio exists, however, and this is the Gran Trio Concertante per violino, oboe, e pianoforte su motivi del Guglielmo Tell, which is based on themes from Gioachino Rossini's opera, Guillaume Tell. This treatise introduces the trio to the current performing repertoire of the oboe. The document also includes an analysis of the piece, with additional historical information on Italian musical life and politics during the nineteenth century, and a biography of Antonino Pasculli's life, his oboe playing, and reed style.