Niccolò Paganini: theme from 'The Carnival of Venice' ('O mamma, mamma cara') - My ukulele arrangement
In 1829 Niccolò Paganini wrote the “Variations for violin and orchestra op. 10” based on the venetian folk song ‘O mamma, mamma cara’.
The composition is based on a simple theme of a folk song, followed by a series of variations, all in the same key, which constitute a kind of synthesis of all the more difficult aspects of violin technique.
After Paganini, many other composers wrote variations on this theme song.
My arrangement
I used as a starting point the score for violin with piano accompaniment (from IMSLP), and I tried to ‘mixing’ the theme of the violin:
with the arpeggio played by the piano:
The result is pretty simple and easy to perform:
Here a video of my ukulele arrangement:
Some tips
In the transcript I inserted a few tips about the right hand: I recommend to using your thumb to play the notes on the downbeat of the accompanying voice, for having a rhythmic point of reference during the execution, and for emphasize the rhythmic structure of the musical phrasing.
Ukulele score&tablature could be downloaded clicking the link below:
