The Romanza e Rondò represents one of the rare compositions for violin and piano on original themes written by Mercadante in the 1850s, when he was director of the Naples conservatory, highly engaged in reorganizing teaching practices and promoting the dissemination of instrumental music in various private and public settings of the city.
Specifically written for Augusto Zingaropoli, an amateur musician who was very active in the city and a close collaborator of the composer, frequently quoted in the gazettes as a reliable and particularly sensitive performer, the piece reveals the taste of the time and is notable for the pleasantness and grace of its melodic lines. The virtuosity is restrained in favour of melody and the interplay of the instruments is replaced by the prevalence of the violin over the piano accompaniment. The composition enjoyed a certain notoriety thanks to the print published in Naples by the Stabilimento Nazionale T. Cottrau in 1853.
The critical edition presented here is based on the collation between the published copy and the hitherto unknown autograph copy preserved in the music library of the Conservatoire de la Vallée d'Aoste.
