A Visit To Paris Caps Allegro’s European Tour

Allegro finishes up a season of touring the musical capitals of Europe with a visit to Paris in the early 1800s. Joining Allegro at The Met on Tuesday will be bassoonist William Davis.

Allegro’s artistic directors and musicians, oboist David Dutton and fortepianist Beverly Biggs, have worked with Davis in the past, including their “Parisian Nights” concert and recording. Tuesday’s concert is a sequel to that popular collaboration, entitled “Parisian Delights.”

Opera ruled in the musical life of Paris at this time, and the Italian Gioachino Rossini was coming into his prime. Rossini was not one of those composers who died in poverty because his music was ignored and detested in his lifetime. Many of his operas did very well from opening night and have remained in the popular repertory ever since.

In those days before recordings and copyright laws, favorite opera arias were quickly arranged by and for gigging musicians to cash in on their popularity. One such culling that will be performed at the concert is a cavatina on Rossini’s 1817 “La Gazza Ladra” (The Thieving Magpie) by Frederic Berr.

Berr was born in Mannheim in 1794 as Friedrich Beer. He was a clarinettist who also played violin, flute and bassoon. Like the pianist in the current movie “Shine,” Beer was pushed very hard by his father Jacob, who would force him to practice sometimes until he would pass out.

Escaping at age 16, the younger Beer joined the French infantry as a bassoon player (a long-range weapon of the day) and fought in the Peninsular War.

After the war, he studied composition in Paris, where he remained.

It was at this time that he changed his name to Berr, to avoid being confused with Joseph Beer, another professional clarinettist. Berr was a professor at the famous French Conservatory from 1831 until his death in 1838. He was not only an excellent clarinet teacher, but wrote a splendid bassoon method as well.

His cavatina has been described as a confection “swirling around the most delicate and transparent of Rossini’s melodies.”

In the tradition of excerpting opera for chamber ensemble, Davis has made an arrangement of Rossini’s “La Cenerentola” (Cinderella). Rossini wrote his version just before “Gazza,” and it is a comic telling of the well-known children’s tale. In the opera, sopranos get to be the evil sisters, and the title role is sung by a contralto.

Allegro will give the world premiere of the first instrumental version of “Cenerentola.” Davis’ arrangement showcases the most popular arias from this charming work.

Also on Tuesday’s program will be Stanislaus Verroust’s flashy Theme and Variations for English horn. Verroust was an oboe teacher at the Paris Conservatory and played in the Opera Comique.

The Grande Duo for oboe and bassoon written by Henri Brod around 1835 will also be played with pianoforte accompaniment. Although the piece was originally intended to be performed as a double concerto with orchestra, only the keyboard score survives.

There will be a pre-concert talk at 7:15 by Leonard Oakland.

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: ALLEGRO Allegro will present “Parisian Delights” at 8 p.m. Tuesday at The Met. Tickets are $8, $11, $14 or $17. (325-SEAT)