Rossini – Tarantella from La Boutique Fantasque (String Quartet Score) – Score Digital Download

It was once said by a famous man of letters that "Rossini's genius is that of sheer animal spirits" - this aspect of his work is present in abundance in this sparkling overture deftly arranged here for string quartet by Carlo Martelli.

Rossini retired from a highly successful and lucrative career as an opera composer before he was 40 years old, and although he lived almost another 40 years he wrote very little more music except for some short piano pieces of a dance-like nature that he called Sins of Old Age. Some of these piano pieces were collected several decades after the composers death and were turned into a ballet by Ottorino Respighi - this is one of those pieces, now arranged by Carlo Martelli for string quartet.

This overture, arranged for string quartet by Carlo Martelli, had previously done service to two other operas by Rossini. However, since those two are virtually forgotten, and The Barber of Seville is one of the most popular operas ever, it is in this titular form that it is remembered.

In this arrangement by Carlo Martelli of Rossini's popular overture, the storm sequence has been omitted and the final famous gallop transposed up a semitone to allow for ease of execution and increased resonance for the string quartet medium.