The Carnival of Venice, is a folk tune popularly associated with the words "My hat, it has three corners." A series of theme and variations have been written for solo trumpet

Trumpet

The trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...

, as "show off" pieces that contain virtuosic displays of double and triple tonguing

Tonguing

Tonguing is a technique used with wind instruments to enunciate different notes using the tongue on the reed or woodwind mouthpiece or brass mouthpiece. A silent "tee" is made when the tongue strikes the reed or roof of the mouth causing a slight breach in the air flow through the instrument. If a...

, and fast tempos.

Many variations on the theme have been written, most notably those by Jean-Baptiste Arban

Jean-Baptiste Arban

Joseph Jean-Baptiste Laurent Arban was a cornetist, conductor, composer, pedagogue and the first famed virtuoso of the cornet à piston or valved cornet...

, Del Staigers, Herbert L. Clarke

Herbert L. Clarke

Herbert Lincoln Clarke was a well-known American cornet player, feature soloist, bandmaster, and composer....

 for the cornet, trumpet, Euphonium, Francisco Tarrega

Francisco Tárrega

Francisco de Asís Tárrega y Eixea was an influential Spanish composer and guitarist of the Romantic period.-Biography:Tárrega was born on 21 November 1852, in Vila-real, Castelló, Spain...

 and Johann Kaspar Mertz

Johann Kaspar Mertz

Johann Kaspar Mertz was a Hungarian guitarist and composer.NOTE: THE ORIGINAL CREATOR OF THIS PAGE PLAGIARIZED THEIR MATERIAL. It has been copied and pasted from the Mel Bay website: http://www.melbay.com/authors.asp?author=749 I tried to report this problem to wikipedia, but they do not make it...

 for classical guitar, and Ignace Gibsone

Ignace Gibsone

Guillaume Ignace Gibsone English concert pianist and composer, of Scottish and French parentage.Many of his compositions for solo piano, and voice with piano accompaniment, were very popular in the salons of Victorian England, but the composer has fallen from favour since then - perhaps...

 for piano. Chopin's "Souvenir de Paganini", dedicated to the composer and violin virtuoso Niccolò Paganini, is as well a variation on this theme. A more recent piece making use of the theme, by Allen Vizzutti

Allen Vizzutti

Allen Vizzutti is an American trumpeter, composer and music educator.Allen Vizzutti very recently recorded his first solo jazz album in some time. "Ritzville" which will be available November 1st, as announced by Vizzutti himself...

, called "The Carnival of Venus," is regarded as one of the most difficult trumpet pieces ever written due to range and technical demands.

The piece has also been arranged for tuba, notably played by John Fletcher (tubist)

John Fletcher (tubist)

John Fletcher was an English tuba player. Along with composer Derek Bourgeois he played tuba in the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain. Both arrived at Cambridge where there was only one tuba position. Fletcher switched to horn, even performing Britten's Serenade for Tenor and Horn...

 and available on the CD The Best of Fletch. Also Roger Bobo (Tubist)

Roger Bobo

Roger Bobo b. 1938 is a renowned and critically acclaimed American tuba virtuoso and internationally respected brass pedagogue. He retired from active tuba performance in 2001 in order to devote his time to conducting and teaching. He gave what is reputed to be the first solo tuba recital in the...

on Tuba Libera (cd). Another tubist whose performance of the piece is noteworthy is Øystein Baadsvik, a Norwegian tubist.