Suspicious about the 'Paradis' Sicillienne

[kevmusic]

I've accompanied this a few times for pupils various in exams, performances & whatnot. The sheet music always gives Paradis's dates, which are 17-something to 1824. Just listen to the music: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NoszNII_Uoc It's a beautiful piece. But I'm damn' sure it's not by a contempary of Mozart & Beethoven. The sinuous romantic melody and the exotic chord sequences are straight out of Satie or Faure! I can't belive that many eminent people actually still believe it's by Paradis. A little Googling reveals that one Samuel Dushkin (1891-1976) had something to do with the 'discovery' of Paradis and his dates make the provenance of this music much more in his domain.

My amazement stands at the apparent acceptance of this blatantly late-romantic piece to be the work of a very minor classical composer!

[Timothy]

There are some tell-tale signs of late classical composition, like the very pronounced phrases and the odd trill, but maybe the composer did that deliberately to pastiche?

[Keef]

Indeed. Mr Google tells me that...

Her most famous work, the Sicilienne in E flat major for piano quartet, is unfortunately spurious, as it is derived from a Carl Maria von Weber violin sonata (Op. 10 No. 1) and is believed to have been concocted by its purported discoverer, Samuel Dushkin.