ABSTRACT
Sivori was using the Carnival to spearhead his very successful tour of England, and one motive for Ernst's trip to England in 1843, which was at a very inauspicious time from the performance point of view, was to hear exactly what Sivori was playing. The hostility between Ernst and Sivori was not just occasioned by their rival styles or different national schools. It had its origins in a dispute which arose before Ernst's journey to England. This was brought about by Sivori's practice, a practice he shared with several other leading virtuosi including Hauman, of playing of Ernst's Carnival of Venice without acknowledging the composer. The still silent Sivori's response, when he next played the Carnival in his third English concert, was simply to omit the Andante, but by this stage the dispute was becoming something of a national scandal.
