Franchomme - La Gazza Ladra de Rossini. Fantaisie, Op. 38 (Urtext Edition, Quintet Version)
Franchomme - La Gazza Ladra de Rossini. Fantaisie, Op. 38 (Urtext Edition, Piano Version)

Auguste Franchomme (1808–1884) was one of the leading French cellists of the nineteenth century and remains best remembered for his Caprices, Op. 7, and Études, Op. 35, along with a number of influential transcriptions of Chopin’s music. His close friendship with Chopin is well documented: together they composed the Grand Duo concertant for piano and cello on themes from Giacomo Meyerbeer’s opera Robert le diable, and while uncredited, Franchomme is known to have contributed to the preparation of the cello part of Chopin’s Cello Sonata, Op. 65.

Beyond his original works and transcriptions, Franchomme composed a number of fantasies on popular melodies. Among his works in this genre is the Fantaisie sur La gazza ladra de Rossini, dedicated to the cellist Émile Horteloup. Franchomme composed it in versions with both piano and string quintet accompaniment, which was common practice for fantasies of the mid-nineteenth century, allowing performers to present concert works without the need for a full orchestra. Horteloup, incidentally, was the owner of the celebrated “Vaslin Composite” Stradivari cello. Not much else is known about this cellist at this point.

Franchomme seems to have had a particular affection for Rossini’s opera, as he also prepared a cello transcription of six Duettinos by Charles de Bériot and Benoît Constant Fauconier (originally for violin and piano) in 1855. Notably, none of the themes from those Duettinos reappear in the present Fantaisie.

The Fantaisie sur La gazza ladra unfolds in three sections, each drawing upon specific numbers from Rossini’s opera:

Part I: based on the Podestà’s Act I cavatina, “Il mio piano è preparato,” much expanded by Franchomme.

Part II: based on the Act II quintet, “Che abisso di pene!”

Part III: outer sections from the Podestà’s Act II aria, “Udrai la sentenza,” with a contrasting middle section from Giannetto’s Act I finale aria, “Ed io la credea la stessa onestà.”

This edition draws upon several sources: the 1867 Schott first edition of the piano version (plate no. 18826), the Heugel edition of the quintet version (plate no. H. 4508), and Franchomme’s autograph manuscript. While the autograph proved invaluable in clarifying pitches, rhythms, and some missing measures, its lack of detail compared to the published versions meant that it could not serve as the primary source.

Our edition presents, for the first time in modern publication, a quintet score of this Fantaisie. All editorial interventions and deviations from the original texts are indicated in the score or fully described in the Critical Commentary. The piano part has been revised to minimize excessive cross-staff notation in favor of more intuitive clef changes. In the quintet, the cello and bass lines have been separated into distinct parts, and the top notes of certain double-stops have been removed from the bass part for clarity.

We gratefully acknowledge the Bibliothèque nationale de France for making these sources accessible for our edition.