L'Assaggiatore per violino solo

L’Assaggiatore per violino solo is an anthology of operatic paraphrases of famous arias from Rossini, Verdi, Donizetti, Pacini, Auber. "Una furtiva lacrima”, “Alla pace degli eletti”, “Angiol di pace all’anima”,
“Non fu sogno”, “Tu pur lo sai”, “Deh calma, o Ciel, nel sonno” and many more.

The Cremona-born Giacomo Bignami (1810- 1888) wrote it for his nineteenth century audience, so that people could enjoy the most famous themes of the most beloved operas.

These transcriptions inspired the composer to showcase his talent while giving new light to a pre-existing body of work, while developing new melodies or adjusting harmonies

Giacomo Bignami (1810-1888), a Cremonese violinist and viola player, performed
in numerous concerts and orchestras in various cities in northern Italy both
as a soloist and a conductor. He also composed numerous pieces for violin, most of
which have not been published. His compositions formed the basis for his concert
repertoire and his teaching.

Pietro Zappalà is a professor of musicology at the Department of Musicology
and Cultural Heritage at the University of Pavia (Cremona campus). He studied
eighteenth and nineteenth-century Italian and German musicians such as Locatelli,
Boccherini, Al. Rolla, Mendelssohn Bartholdy, Bottesini and Ponchielli, discovering
and publishing biographical documents and unpublished scores.