Fantasia on Melodies by Saverio Mercadante for Horn and Orchestra
First edition
The title of the work, published here in print for the first time, reads in the autograph score:
Fantasia | per | Corno da Caccia | Su varj motivi di Mercadante | per Signor | Alfonso Schettino
Unfortunately, no biographical information could be found about the composer and horn player Alfonso Schettino.
Saverio Mercadante (1795–1870) was a very popular composer in his lifetime. In 1840 he was appointed director of the Royal Conservatory in Naples, succeeding his teacher Nicola Zingarelli.
Schettino’s fantasy on Giuseppe Verdi’s Un ballo in maschera (A Masked Ball), also a first edition, is published under catalogue number ROM 391. It gives 1863 as the year of composition and notes that Schettino performed the work in May 1864 at the Accademia of the Conservatorio di musica in Naples. The same period of composition can probably be assumed for the present work.
Listening example
Alfonso Schettino, Fantasia on Melodies by Saverio Mercadante for Horn and Orchestra
