Prelude and variations

Theodore Lalliet lived from 1837 to 1892. As well as teaching oboe at the Academie Imperiale de Musique he was also solo oboist in various Parisian orchestras including 'Les Concerts Musard'. He wrote numerous virtuoso works for oboe and cor anglais and also transcribed many well-known pieces by his contemporaries including Wagner and Saint-Saens. The Carnival of Venice is a popular Venetian tune that Paganini heard in Venice and made famous in his own arrangement for violin. Arrangements by other composers soon followed, most of them designed as unashamed showpieces