The 5 Pezzi per mandolino solo presented here are part of the 31 works for solo mandolin composed by Raffaele Calace over the course of his career. With the exception of the first ten short pieces—later grouped into the collection Gemme Orientali, Op. 15—and the Ten Preludes for Solo Mandolin, considered the absolute pinnacle of Romantic mandolin writing, Calace composed twelve additional pieces in which the full range of mandolin techniques characteristic of his style is developed. Five of these pieces have been selected as among the most representative.
These compositions respond to pedagogical, concert, and editorial aims, and are fully integrated into the musical ecosystem Calace built around his activities as a teacher, luthier, performer, and publisher. In these works, a profound technical innovation for the mandolin is evident, through writing dominated by polyphony, a harmonic conception of the instrument, extensive use of tremolo, and the principal virtuoso techniques that would reach full maturity in the two concertos and the preludes.
