Duo merveille
Open-knowledge reference entry
The Sonata in C major, MS 6, also commonly referred to as Duo merveille or Merveille de Paganini, is a composition for solo violin by violin virtuoso Niccolò Paganini. Notable for being written on two staves, like a true duo, it is one of the composer’s earliest works.
Background
The Duo merveille was composed at an undetermined point between 1805 and 1808 and is considered one of the earliest works by Paganini. It was written as a gift for Elisa Baciocchi, née Maria Anna Bonaparte and sister of Napoleon Bonaparte, with whom Paganini is believed to have had a brief romantic affair. During this period, Paganini enjoyed the favor of the Bonaparte family and served as first court violinist at Baciocchi’s court in the Republic of Lucca. The work was effectively dedicated to her, at a time when she was Princess of Lucca and Piombino. She later became Grand Duchess of Tuscany in 1808.
After its composition, the piece fell into relative obscurity. Although conceived as a gift, it was not published by Paganini himself and was therefore not circulated widely. As a matter of fact, it was considered spurious for a long time, and Paganini denied the authorship of Duo merveille and other pieces published without his consent in his lifetime.
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This entry incorporates text from “Duo merveille” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.