Souvenir d'Orient. Fantaisie brillante Op. 12

By Onorato Costa

Item Number: UT.CH-124

ISBN 979-0-2153-1884-7.

Onorato Costa was a guitarist and composer. In Vienna between 1818 and 1832 he published a number of compositions for solo guitar and duets with other instruments. According to the Allgemeine musika- lische Zeitung, on the 27 February 1820, a guitarist by the name of Costa performed some variations on a Rossini cavatina in Vienna, which may be identified as the 'Variations sur un Theme favori de l'Opera: Cenerentola de Rossini' Op. 6, published by Onorato Costa with Cappi & Diabelli precisely around the period 1819-20.

In this fantasia Costa uses three popular pieces: the first two are of Greek origin (the romance Ilios Lambros and a Sirtos, which was the most common dance throughout Greece in the 19th century) whilst the third is a Hungarian dance with variations.