La campanella (meaning "The Little Bell") is the nickname given to the third of six Grandes études de Paganini ("Grand Paganini Etudes"), S. 141 (1851), composed by Franz Liszt. This piece is a revision of an earlier version from 1838, the Études d'exécution transcendente d'après Paganini, S. 140. Its melody comes from the final movement of Niccolò Paganini's Violin Concerto No. 2 in B minor, where the tune was reinforced by a little handbell.
The etude is played at a brisk pace and studies right hand jumping between intervals larger than one octave, sometimes even stretching for two whole octaves within the time of a sixteenth note, at allegretto tempo. As a whole, the etude can be practised to increase dexterity and accuracy at large jumps on the piano, along with agility of the weaker fingers of the hand. The largest intervals reached by the right hand are fifteenths (two octaves) and sixteenths (two octaves and a second). Sixteenth notes are played between the two notes, and the same note is played two octaves or two octaves and a second higher with no rest. No time is provided for the pianist to move the hand, thus forcing the pianist to avoid tension within the muscles. Fifteenth intervals are quite common in the beginning of the etude, while the sixteenth intervals appear twice, at the thirtieth and thirty-second measures.
However, the left hand studies about four extremely large intervals, larger than those in the right hand. For example, after the Più mosso, at the seventh measure, the left hand makes a sixteenth-note jump of just a half-step below three octaves. The etude also involves other technical difficulties, e.g. trills with the fourth and fifth fingers. The pianist will normally try to limit trills with the fourth and fifth, for easier endurance.
The work has been arranged by other composers and pianists, most notably Ferruccio Busoni and Marc-André Hamelin.
