Balfe, Michael William Cantata Sempre pensoso e torbido for soprano, horn & piano

Larghetto; Allegro; Allegro moderato

To commemorate 150 years of Balfe’s death, Fountayne Editions has produced this Cantata, written for Madame Malibran in Italy c1833-34. It requires a big range from the voice (bottom b flat to top C) and virtuosity from both voice and horn. Malibran was renowned for singing both soprano and contralto parts and also her stormy and dramatic intensity. Balfe was always able to write a pleasing melody and he does not disappoint here. But he seems to have risen to the challenge of writing for Malibran with a tour-de-force very much in the style of Rossini. Indeed he had met and impressed Rossini in the late 1820s, singing Figaro in The Barber of Seville. He also sang in productions with Malibran and was clearly very well acquainted with her abilities. The cantata is in three sections but runs continuously.

piano score and horn part £9-99