Orchestration by Paul Gilson appeared in June 1902. 

Other early editions: piano 2 hands (Rahter, plate 2336, arr. Biehl), piano 4 hands (Rahter, plate 2479, arr. Kleinmichel), violin and piano (Rahter, November 1907, arr. Hubay)

David Popper composed three Tarantellas (Opp. 33, 57, and 64, No. 2). His first Tarantella in G major, Op. 33 remains a staple of the cello repertoire and is often studied by students in their teenage years. Despite its popularity among advancing players, the work is deceptively difficult for its pedagogical placement, demanding fluency in rapid shifts, string crossings, and advanced bowing technique.

The Tarantella was dedicated to Jan Seifert (1833–after 1914), known in Russia as Ivan Ivanovich Zeyfert (Иван Иванович Зейферт), a cellist, teacher, and professor at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory, as well as director of the Saint Petersburg Philharmonic Society. Born into a Czech family, Seifert played in the orchestra of the Imperial Theatres from 1853 and joined the faculty of the Conservatory at its founding in 1862, during Tchaikovsky’s student years. He also taught amateur musicians, including Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich.

Structurally, the Tarantella combines elements of rondo and ternary (ABA) forms. The opening piano “tutti” presents the head motive of the first melody heard in the solo cello; however, this melody never reappears after its initial statement. Instead, the repeated-note motive introduced after that theme becomes the work’s central rhythmic and thematic anchor. The C-major section (heard as either the B section of a ternary form or the C section of a rondo) provides contrast and lyrical relief before the return to G major. The reprise also functions as a coda, driven by the continuing presence of the repeated-note figure in the accompaniment.

Popper’s former student Stephen Deák recounts an anecdote about another of Popper’s pupils, Földessy, performing this work: “After hearing Földessy’s concert, Popper remarked, ‘Yes, he is developing constantly. Recently he was able to play my Tarantella in only two and a half minutes!’”

(Excerpted from the preface of the Urtext edition by Yuriy Leonovich)