MENDELSSOHN Cello Conc. op. 64. (ed. Berrocal) FULL VERSION

This proposal aims to present the historical context of Johannes Brahms's Cello Sonata Op. 38. In my argument, I will focus on the comparison between Brahms's usage of the minuet form and fugal writing (in the second and third movements of the sonata) in relation to the Classical era minuet and Baroque fugue technique. In this proposal, I will explore this connection through the aspects of form, harmonic progression, thematic material and presentation.

2004

2019

This dissertation explores chamber duo works in which the cello has one or more significant solo passages. Works studied are sonatas for cello and piano by Luigi Boccherini (1771), Anton Rubinstein (1855), Edvard Grieg (1883), Alexander Tcherepnin (1924), and Marcus Paus (2009); show pieces by David Popper (Hungarian Rhapsody, 1894), Sulkhan Tsintsadze (Five Pieces on Folk Themes for Cello and Piano, 1950), Joachim Stutschewsky (Three Hebrew Melodies, 1934), and Buxton Orr (A Carmen Fantasy, 1985); and two duos with violin by Zoltán Kodály (1914) and Bohuslav Martinů (1927). Short biographical notes are provided on each composer and cadenzas are analyzed for their role and placement in each respective composition. Works have been organized according to the following categories: improvised cadenzas, cadenzas that prolong harmonic tension, virtuosic cadenzas based on folk and ethnic traditions, cadenzas providing an introduction or transition, and reflective cadenzas. In the conclusio...

Nineteenth-Century Music Review, 2013

Composed in 1850, Robert Schumann's cello concerto in A minor Op. 129 is nowadays considered as one of the masterpieces of the instrument's repertoire, but the piece took a long time to achieve this prestige among critics and performers. It was composed in a span of two weeks, but only published after four years and first performed only in 1860, four years after the composer's death. It is the first cello concerto by a major composer since Joseph Haydn, but it is also very innovative for the genre, not only because of its continuous form (without breaks between movements) but also for the composers option to deviate from the typical bravura concert pieces, establishing the lyrical character of the instrument that would be explored by future composers. In order to contest the common sense that Schumann's late works are faulty because of the composer's mental illness, previous works by other composers and by Schumann himself will be pointed as possible sources of inspiration for the concerto as a proof that the composer's experimentations were intentional and not a result of a weak mind condition. This research is based on works that portrait the trajectory of Schumann as a composer (especially his last years in Düsseldorf), analysis of the relationship between the concerto and previous works, discussions about the impact that this cello concerto had in the history of the genre, as well as recordings and scores of the piece.

This paper presents a thick description of a small excerpt of the emblematic Solo Cello Sonata of Bernd Alois Zimmermann. A reading will be developed that will take into account the widest possible range of knowable aspects of the piece, from the aspect of pitches in its serial dimension, to the rhythmic serialization itself, concluding with that which is the main aspect aimed by the composer, which is the writing of Time from the interpreter's demanded gestures. This aspect is presented here with an attempt to systematize musical gesture and its display as a alytical method.

2010

Program notes: CD's Centaur Label CRC 3140/3141: Antony Cooke (cello) Armin Watkins (piano) 2010 The Sonata in E Minor, Op. 38, was composed by the youthful composer between 1862 and 1865; it is the first of his cycle of three cello sonatas. An artistic pinnacle yet to be surpassed, they easily stand alongside those of Beethoven, while similar parallels may be observed in their creative development. The E Minor Sonata originally featured an additional slow movement, but the relentlessly self-critical composer decided its inclusion would damage the balance of the sonata, which already featured a lengthy and darkly warm, lushly romantic and lyrical first movement. Brahms's use of magically placed moments of harmony and melody were to be a hallmark throughout his life. By positioning carefully placed resolutions at the height of musical tension, along with the strategic use of register at key places, they are perhaps best considered his " sunrise " moments. Brahms's formal training and influences are apparent in the form of the second movement, a romantic version of a minuet and trio (where, in the trio, impressions of a Viennese cembalo create a highly original piano texture). This is followed by a stunningly powerful fugue for the last movement. However, such influences should not be taken to mean that the composer's legendary style and idiom is in short supply. Perhaps there is no cello sonata more accessible to the listener, so perfectly conceived, while maintaining the highest musical ideals.

The Journal of Academic Social Science Studies, 2013

At first glance, the existence of the cello sonata, among the works of Chopin, famous with his piano pieces, may seem a surprising fact. However, with closer examination of the history of writing of this sonata, one can come to a strange conclusion about the almost inevitability of its creation. The appearance of this work was predetermined by all of Chopin's prior experiences.

2019

Research into the performance practice of eighteenth-century basso continuo is continually developing. In recent times there has been a greater focus on continuo practice for bowed bass string instruments, especially in regards to continuo cello playing. There is increasing evidence that the practice of continuo playing on the cello was far more extensive and complex in terms of technique and musicality than was previously thought – that in fact the cellist much like their continuo counterparts, the harpsichord and lute player, were also capable of and in some cases expected to provide harmonic realisation; to play chordally on the cello. My current research for my Masters thesis is on eighteenth-century cellist, Johann Baptist Baumgärtner (1723-1782) and his method for the cello, “Instructions De Musique, Théorique Et Pratique, À L'usage Du Violoncelle,”(1774). His method is one of the few pedagogical works specifically for the cello from this period. The most important and defining feature of his method are his rules and explanations for playing chordally on the cello, particularly for chordally realising the bass lines of recitatives. My research into this method and on Baumgärtner himself led to the discovery of other little known compositions by him. Most notably his “Extrait des airs françois de plusieurs opéras qui ont été représentées accommodées pour deux violoncellos,” a collection of operactic arias arranged for two cellos. This work explicitly uses chordal cello techniques in several settings and exemplifies the rules and practical examples presented in his method. It thus not only provides further information on Baumgärtner as a composer but also provides additional concrete evidence of chordal cello practice.

1998

It was primarily as a result of these developments, and the consequent improvement in performance potential of the instrument that, during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the cello began to supersede the viola da gamba. The cello was preferred because it was more suited to supporting the louder eighteenth century ensemble than the light, reedy sound of the viola da gamba which was more appropriate for playing polyphony (Robinson 1980, 793). It is considered that the first composition specifically for the cello was Partite sopra diverse Sonate written around 1650 by Giovanni Battista Vitali (c. 1632-1692) (Campbell 1988, 30). Around this time, several schools of cello playing emerged in Europe, primarily in France, England and Italy, where there were virtuoso cellists and performer-composers in abundance. Many composers began to write solo works, concertos, chamber works and sonatas with continuo for the cello including Domenico Gabrielli (1651-1690), Giuseppe Torelli (1658-1709), Giovanni Bononcini (1670-1747), Benedetto Marcello (1686-1739), Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741) and Martin Berteau (c.1700-1771). By the middle of the eighteenth century, "thousands of works had been written for the cello. .. . [and] never since has the cello been indulged by such a rich and diverse repertoire" (Campbell 1988, 30). Many influential composers began to write major works for the cello. It was J.S. Bach's Six Suites for Violoncello solo, BWV 1007-12 (c. 1720) that saw the culmination of these works. Johann Christian Bach (1735-1782), Luigi Boccherini (1735-1804) and Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809) also explored and extended the capabilities of the instrument, both in chamber works and in concertos. The cello gradually gained more independence in ensemble playing until it had achieved a role equal to that of the other string instruments. In Haydn's Six String Quartets, opus 17, (1771), the cello was involved firstly in "thematic development and finally in the actual statement of themes" (Marx 1980, 860-1). Haydn expanded the cello's role in the