24 Caprices for Solo Violin (Paganini)


The 24 Caprices for Solo Violin were written in groups by Niccolò Paganini between 1802 and 1817. They are also designated as M.S. 25 in Maria Rosa Moretti's and Anna Sorrento's Catalogo tematico delle musiche di Niccolò Paganini which was published in 1982. The Caprices are in the form of études, with each number exploring different skills
Ricordi first published them in 1820, where they were grouped and numbered from 1 to 24 as Op. 1, together with 12 Sonatas for Violin and Guitar and 6 Guitar Quartets. When Paganini released his Caprices, he dedicated them "alli artisti" rather than to a specific person. A sort of dedication can be recognized in Paganini's own score, where he annotated between 1832 and 1840 the following 'dedicatee' for each Caprice : 1: Henri Vieuxtemps; 2: Giuseppe Austri; 3: Ernesto Camillo Sivori; 4: Ole Bornemann Bull; 5: Heinrich Wilhelm Ernst; 6: Karol Józef Lipiński; 7: Franz Liszt; 8: Delphin Alard; 9: Herrmann; 10: Theodor Haumann; 11: Sigismond Thalberg; 12: Dhuler; 13: Charles Philippe Lafont; 14: Jacques Pierre Rode; 15: Louis Spohr; 16: Rodolphe Kreutzer; 17: Alexandre Artôt; 18: Antoine Bohrer; 19: Andreas Jakob Romberg; 20: Carlo Bignami; 21: Antonio Bazzini; 22: Luigi Alliani; 23: ; 24: Nicolò Paganini, sepolto pur troppo.
Ferdinand David's first edition was published by Breitkopf & Härtel in 1854. David, as editor, also issued an edition of Caprices with piano accompaniments by Robert Schumann. Another edition by David was issued in two books of 12 caprices each "mit hinzugefügter Begleitung des Pianoforte von Ferdinand David" and published by Breitkopf & Härtel.
Unlike many earlier and later sets of 24 pieces, there was no intention to write these caprices in Music written in all 24 [major and minor keys|24 different keys].

Scores

  • Critical edition by
  • Critical edition by

Complete set / commercial recordings

Complete set / live, not commercial recordings

Arrangements

Violin and Piano

Violin and string orchestra

  • arrangement of Nos. 13, 24 by Jascha Heifetz, No. 24 is based on Leopold Auer's piano arrangement
  • arrangement of Nos. 2, 21, 20, 9, 24 as Five Paganini Caprices by Edison Denisov
  • string orchestra accompaniment for Nos. 1–24 by Giedrius Kuprevičius

Viola solo

Viola and piano

Cello solo

  • arrangement of Nos. 9, 14, 17 by Yo-Yo Ma

Cello and piano

Flute solo

Guitar solo

Electric guitar solo

Chamber orchestra

Clarinet and jazz band

Complete set recordings of arrangements

Original works, based on Paganini's Caprices

Especially for compositions in the form of "Variations" see the related article: Caprice No. 24 (Paganini)#Variations on the theme.

Violin solo

Violin and piano

Violin and orchestra

Piano solo

Two pianos

Piano and orchestra

Orchestra