“When the composer Saverio Mercadante first met Catterino Catterini who played the glicibarifono (the forefather of the modern bass clarinet) in “La Fenice” Theater Orchestra in Venice, he immediately became fascinated by this instrument and recognized its great potential. Mercadante was so moved by Catterini’s virtuosity that he wrote a solo for him in the opera Emma di Antiochia, commissioned for the 1834 carnival season and played in March of the same year. This is the first solo ever written for bass clarinet. […]”
Rocco Parisi