Capriccio for oboe and piano Op.80 (c 1870)

Cesare Confalonieri, principal oboe at La Scala and a teacher at the Milan Conservatory, was probably not at all surprised by the operatic style of the Capriccio dedicated to him by his friend Amilcare Ponchielli. He might not yet have written his masterwork La Gioconda - the date of the Capriccio, which was published after the composer’s death, is uncertain - but Ponchielli would have been known in Milan as a composer of opera and not at all as composer of chamber music. It is not unlikely, however, that the oboist was surprised by the extent of the technical and expressive demands made on him by Ponchielli’s score. It’s an instrumental equivalent of not just an operatic aria but a whole scena that takes its soloist through a bewildering variety of emotional situation interspersed with oboe cadenzas and dramatic piano interventions. At the heart of it is a melodious romanza which leads to a brilliant cabaletta and, alongside an echo of the romanza, a virtuoso coda.