Cavallini Adagio e Tarantella for Clarinet in B flat and String Orchestra by Ernesto Cavallini String Orchestra - Digital Sheet Music

SKU: A0.1725490

Looking for a guaranteed showstopper that perfectly balances lyrical beauty with true virtuosic flair for your next concert? Ernesto Cavallini's Adagio e Tarantella is a cornerstone of the clarinet repertoire, and our new arrangement for Clarinet and String Orchestra finally gives it the elegant, supportive platform it truly deserves. Warning: may cause your audience (and the soloist!) to spontaneously erupt into a frenzied Italian folk dance!

About the Piece

Ernesto Cavallini (1807–1874) was rightly nicknamed the "Paganini of the Clarinet" for his dazzling technique, which even inspired Verdi to write a solo for him in La forza del destino. The Adagio e Tarantella is one of his most celebrated works. It perfectly encapsulates the Italian Romantic style: a slow, intensely beautiful opening Adagio cantabile allows the soloist to sing with genuine operatic warmth, before a thrilling, technically demanding Tarantella—a frantic Neapolitan folk dance, once believed to be a cure for a spider bite—whips the piece into a joyful frenzy.

While traditionally performed with piano, our specialised arrangement shifts the accompaniment to a lush, highly effective String Orchestra. This adaptation not only captures the original's dramatic, operatic spirit more fully, but it also gives the music a depth and colour that a piano just can't match. We’ve meticulously edited the score for maximum clarity, ensuring that both the soloist and the strings have clear parts that make rehearsal a pleasure, not a puzzle.