Maria Theresia von Paradis / Sicilienne / Fl+G

In 1924, Schott published a “Sicilienne” credited to the blind eighteenth-century piano virtuoso Maria Theresia von Paradis (1759-1824) as “revised and edited” by violinist Samuel Dushkin. Dushkin claimed that he had discovered this piece as a piano work, and had recast it for violin and piano. However, no such work survives among primary manuscript sources for von Paradis, and it is fairly certain that Dushkin composed this little violin encore himself. The doubtful pedigree of the Sicilienne has hardly prevented its popularity; it has a generous, graceful and arching melodic line which shifts gently from major to minor over a simple, cradle-song rocking accompaniment. 

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