Enrico Toselli (1883-1926): Serenata "Rimpianto"

Enrico Toselli (1883-1926): Serenata "Rimpianto", Op. 6, No. 1

This piece (also known as "Toselli's Serenade) is the best-known composition by Enrico Toselli, who was otherwise mainly known through a high society scandal when he married Princess Louise of Tuscany, the eloped former wife of the King Of Saxony in 1907.

This arrangement for mandolin quartet is by Jim Hulley, played from old copies in our group's repertoire folder.

1915 Luigi Embergher mandolin (x2)
Mid-Missouri M-111 octave mandolin
Vintage Viaten tenor guitar



Martin

This is one of the first pieces I played when I joined the Long Island Mandolin and Guitar Orchestra over forty years ago!
We did it as an instrumental and as a vocal. I like to play it on the piano, also.

Love playing this one from Walter Kaye Bauer's book "Familiar Music for Mandolin with Classic Guitar Accompaniment." Looks like there's a copy on Amazon for $25 plus shipping!

Yup, it's a standard alright !

Thanks a lot! Yes, this one is in the repertoire of most of the "traditional" mandolin orchestras or groups. Fun to play, too.

I have now got around to scanning our arrangement in four parts. It's by Jim Hulley, who was before my time. I should really have played it with extensive rubato as marked in the score, but that's difficult to do cleanly when making multitracked home recordings. So, for my recording I have used strict tempo -- we do vary it more when playing it with the group.

It's a pretty straightforward arrangement, and a useful addition to the repertoire of any groups that don't already have their own arrangement.

Martin

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Martin Jonas

I have now got around to scanning our arrangement in four parts. It's by Jim Hulley, who was before my time.

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We've had a chat about Jim Hulley at rehearsal yesterday -- he was local to us in the Liverpool/Merseyside area and he wrote the standard arrangements the BMG (the UK equivalent of CMSA) circulated to all entrants for their mandatory competition pieces at their annual rally in the 1980s. So, I would think that the Toselli and McDowell arrangements I have posted were both written as competition pieces.

Martin

Here is another of my lockdown re-recordings of pieces from our repertoire folder: this is the Jim Hulley arrangement of Toselli's Serenade (see above for PDF score).

For this stripped down home recording, I have merged the second mandolin and mandola parts to make it a trio. This piece is often played much slower than I do, but Toselli's original tempo was 120 bpm. Unlike my earlier recording in this thread, this time there is no click track so I can play the rubato as marked in the score.

1890s Umberto Ceccherini bowlback mandolin
Mid-Missouri M-111 octave mandolin
Vintage Viaten tenor guitar



Martin