Maria Theresia von Paradis
The Sicilienne long ascribed to Maria Theresia von Paradis remains a quiet fixture of the violin encore repertoire: a cantabile salon piece that, in the familiar Dushkin arrangement, asks for charm, purity of tone and unforced elegance.
An Austrian composer and pianist of the late eighteenth century, she wrote songs, keyboard music, operas and cantatas, and later taught. Her songs lean toward an operatic manner with coloratura and trills; the piano works show the imprint of Leopold Kozeluch. The Sicilienne that still circulates under her name is not hers. Samuel Dushkin fashioned it in the twentieth century from a Weber violin sonata. On disc it sits among other salon encores, where its gentle line and shaded phrasing set it apart from the flashier showpieces around it.
Compositions by Maria Theresia von Paradis appear on
Miscellany for Flute and Harp
Throughout history composers have been drawn to the flute and harp pairing, from the shepherd’s pan-pipes and Orphean lyre of ancient Arcadia to the French court of Marie-Antoinette and Mozart’s duo concerto for the two instruments.