The extraordinary talent of Giovanni Battista Pergolesi, who was born in 1710 and died prematurely in 1736, was recognized and emphatically confirmed during the composer's lifetime. In particular, his two intermezzi La serva padrona and Livietta e Tracollo, along with the Stabat mater, were responsible for carrying Pergolesi's fame far beyond the borders of Naples, where he lived and worked. The recognition of his genius was accompanied by various legend-fostering embellishments of his biography and false attributions of a great number of works.
There is no absolute proof that Pergolesi actually composed the Sinfonia in F major for cello and basso continuo, which is issued here in an arrangement for double hass. Lending weight to the hypothesis of Pergolesi's authorship is the fact that one of his patrons, Duke Carafa-Maddaloni - whom Pergolesi served for a certain time - is said to have been a proficient cellist. lt is thus perfectly plausible that the duke commissioned the work. The piece attained particular fame in our time thanks to Igor Stravinsky, who used it in his ballet music to Pulcinella, premiered in 1920. IBtimately, it was Stravinsky's ballet which supplied the stimulus for the present arrangement. Moreover, the Pulcinella theme is often included in the audition repertoire for double hass players.
Pergolesi's work has come down to us in the form of parts - a melody part and an unfigured continuo part. The editor was responsible for transposing the work to G major, realizing the hass part for piano/harpsichord and for providing all the dynamic indications and embellishment variants.

Munich, Spring 1999
Klaus Trumpf