Cantabile, Op. 17, for Violoncello and Piano (arr. Rummel)

Niccolò Paganini wrote his Cantabile, Op. 17, in 1824, at the height of his career. It could almost be regarded to be an antipode to his image of the bewitched violinist – in 1820, he had published the famous Capricci Op. 1 with Ricordi. The fact that Paganini himself never played his most famous virtuoso pieces in concert has long been forgotten. All his other compositions are proof of his legendary art of violin playing which, according to a number of different legends, had its origin in a pact with the devil.