Reference to Maurice Gendron

The fantasias and souvenirs by the Belgian virtuoso Adrien-François Servais (1807-1866) are among the most technically demanding works in the cello repertoire. Not for nothing was the composer also called the Paganini of the cello, as his works push virtuosity to the limits of what is possible. A great success was his Grande Fantaisie sur des motifs de l'opéra Le Barbier de Séville de G. Rossini op. 6. In it, Servais varies popular opera motifs such as Buona sera, Ecco ridente in cielo or La testa vi gira ma zitto, dottore.

In 1958, the French cellist Maurice Gendron (1920-1990) created his own concert version of it, in which he used the Rossini aria Una voce poco fa He tightened the tutti in order to embellish the cadenzas and finally varied the Figaro theme as the crowning finale. This pièce de genre was thus given a personal touch by this exceptional virtuoso.

Gendron also adapted numerous other works by famous composers to his own taste for his own practice. He did not regard their models as a rigid original text, but as a basis for free artistic exploration. One well-known example is his version of the Pezzo capriccioso op. 62 by Peter Tchaikovsky, published by Schott (CB 212).

The new edition of the Fantaisie op. 6 was performed by the Swiss cellist Walter Grimmer, who paid tribute to his teacher Maurice Gendron on his 100th birthday in 2020.

Adrien-François Servais: Grande Fantaisie sur des motifs de l'opéra Le Barbier de Séville de G. Rossini op. 6, version de concert de Maurice Gendron, révision Walter Grimmer, pour violoncelle et piano, GB 10263, ca. € 19.50, Editions Billaudot, Paris