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Caprice no. 37


Caprice number 37 is about as pedantic as it gets for this book. We make our way through the circle of fifths with the same pattern, which explores eighths, sixteenths, and triplet eighths. Campagnoli even repeats C# as the key of D-flat when we make the transition to flat keys (mm. 16-20), - an interesting moment for the ear. 

My favorite section was the arpeggios (bariolage) section at the end. This, at least, seemed to have some direction and interest in its chord development. Overall, it's an incredibly boring caprice, but it does get the job done on the technical side. Campagnoli gives lots of fingering, which is unusual for him. He wants the player to many different positions and keys, but always with the same finger/bow pattern. This proves to be quite challenging when you have to nail 5th position out of nowhere, like in measures 11 and 25

I'll give him this: it's still better than playing the standard etude!


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