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This Article is a chapter from my MMus dissertation!
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Caprice or Étude
This chapter discusses the entity of a caprice as opposed to an étude, and considers the predecessors of Paganini who may have inspired his caprices. Antoine Furetière in 1690, stated that, 'Capriccios are pieces of music, poetry or painting wherein the force of imagination has better success than observation of the rules of art'. More recently, the New Harvard Dictionary of Music defines, “A humorous, fanciful, or bizarre composition, often characterized by an idiosyncratic departure from current stylistic norms.” The obvious question therefore, is whether Paganini's op.1 really is a selection of caprices or rather, as they tend to be used, simply études.
The Grove dictionary describes a “study” as being “designed primarily to exploit and perfect a chosen facet of performing technique, but the better for having some musical interest.” And interestingly it refers to the Paganini's caprices in the same entry as being “Concert studies of unmatched brilliance”. Therefore, whilst we bracket Caprice and Étude in the same generalised territory, they have differing emphasis when it comes to musical 'interest' or 'imagination' and this distinction is significant. In numerous other works the terms caprice and étude are used together in the same titles - 'Étude pour le violon formant 36 Caprices'by Fiorillo, '40 Études ou Caprices'by Kreutzer, '24 Caprices en formed' Études'by Rode, to name a few. Effectively these are étude works that classify as containing some musical interest. If we want a close comparison with Paganini, Locatelli's own 24 caprices (1695-1764) prove to be a more direct connection. An obvious example is the distinct similarity between Locatelli's seventh caprice and Paganini's first. Also, Van Der Straeten and Lillian Day for instance attest that Paganini studied the Locatelli caprices himself in Genoa before 1805.
Now mostly used for the purpose of technical training the violinist, one could call into question the validity and necessity of the caprices for training a violinist, especially with the existence of alternative études that consist of similar technical devices. A letter between Karol Lipinski and Robert Schumann explain that the caprices “were written as gifts for friends.” We also know that Paganini had written variation études that are in much more of a repetitive nature purely as a means for technical development, namely the '60 Barucaba Études', op.14. Fetis considered this work to be a complete compilation of “every style of bowing, all the difficulties of fingering, and all the combinations of harmony, upon which his school is founded.” On the technical side, we must recognise that Paganini was not the real 'innovator' of the technical composition that we often associate him with. Earlier violinist composers such as Tartini and Veracini were the real initial innovators of violin technique, an obsession developed through many generations of violinists including Paganini himself.
There is the added question of whether the caprices themselves alone are suitable for performance, or whether they are simply gateways into other pieces of music. Harold Berkley's 1944 edition of Paganini's Caprices is particularly interesting because it describes itself as a “study-version” on its front page. However, Berkley's revision explores the musical nature of the pieces and on the whole contains intricate indications to make the caprices musically expressive. Even more intriguing is that in the preface, added embellishments are suggested for certain passages in case of concert performance. These suggestions include addition of extra octaves in scales and arpeggios, i.e. stretching scales, all for the more virtuosic impressiveness. It is interesting that even when viewed as an étude, these compositions are considered worthy for performance. Ernst Herttrich writing in the preface to the Henle Verlag edition, described the caprices as “the fusion of these two forms - the concert cadenza and the instrumental étude.”
