Very little is known about the two sonatas which appear here in their original k...(+)
Very little is known about the two sonatas which appear here in their original keys. They were placed in the library of the Music School in Oxford at the end of the seventeenth century in a form convenient for playing (i.e. unbound). The library was catalogued by Hake between 1850 and 1855 and the sonatas were eventually bound in 1855 with other instrumental and vocal manuscripts of the same period some of which are dated 1698.The sonatas are both inscribed on the title page Sonata à Violone Solo. Col Basso per l'Organo o Cembalo. A third sonata bears the words Sonata à Violino e Violoncino … di Giovannino del Violone. Giovannino(=Little or Young John) must have been a performer and although the third sonata has been copied by a different hand it is conceivable that Giovannino is a connecting link between the three. He cannot however be assumed to be their author.The Violone was a six-stringed instrument with frets and there is evidence to suggest that the Contrabasso of the same period was similar but probably a little larger; the Violoncino (=Little Violone or Violoncello) must have been smaller. The word 'Violone' was also used as a collective term embracing all members of the Viol family which means that the sonatas might well have been written for a tenor or a bass Viol and not necessarily a Violone as such. Indeed when they are played on a Violone or Double Bass the continuo bass line must be played at a lower pitch than the solo instrument to prevent inversion of the intended harmony. (The use of a Violone/Double Bass continuo or 16' organ tone would overcome this problem.)The editor has added no ornaments or embellishments to the solo part as it appears in the original manuscript. It is open to debate whether a Violone player owing to the very nature of his instrument would have used any but the simplest melodic decorations. Nevertheless the performer should acquaint himself thoroughly with those seventeenth century traditions that
An easy virtuoso work published here for the first time and now much performed. ...(+)
An easy virtuoso work published here for the first time and now much performed. Recorded Slatford/Academy of St Martin-in-the-Fields (EMI). AMEB (Australian Syllabus) 2004. Orchestral material on hire from Yorke Edition (not Spartan).Programme Note:As a young professional player in the 1960s my work as a double bassist with chamber ensembles and small orchestras took me all over the world. This presented an unparalleled opportunity to scour libraries and archives wherever I went. Long before the advent of the photocopier and e-mail research was far more challenging than it is today. Eastern Europe was particularly difficult to access with manycollections kept under lock and key for all but a few hours a week. One quickly found colleagues who were keen to share information gleaned in passing even though they had no specific interest in one's own particular specialism (it is so often the peripheral topics that fascinate as much as the main subject under investigation and one can quickly be side-tracked into political and social issues that have only slender bearing on the job in hand!).In the early 1970s James Brown the then sub-principal oboist of the English Chamber Orchestra with whom I was working at the time stumbled across a small collection of double bass manuscripts at the Royal Danish State Library in Copenhagen. They were by Franz Anton Leopold Keÿper (b. c.1756 d. Copenhagen 7 June 1815) a double bassist of Dutch origin who worked as principal of the Royal Chapel Orchestra in Copenhagen. Keÿper's son was the bassoonist Franz Jacob August Keÿper (1792-1859). The collection included a number of concertos some chamber music and various naïve fragments. Although hardly the work of a Mozart or Haydn the style is characteristic of the period. For an instrument such as the double bass whose 18th century solo repertoire is largely written for tunings that are no longer in everyday use Keÿper's music is easily approachable in its
24 Easy Pieces From 5 Centuries Using Half To 3Rd Position. The 'Easy Concert Pi...(+)
24 Easy Pieces From 5 Centuries Using Half To 3Rd Position. The 'Easy Concert Pieces' series presents a varied selection of easy concert pieces for double bass and piano from the Renaissance, Baroque and Classical periods through to the modern era. To facilitate choosing individual pieces for performance and auditions at music schools, competitions or examinations these pieces have been ordered according to level of musical and technical difficulty.
Book 1 (ED 22551) contains pieces in half and first position. Pieces in each position and some using position changes are presented from each era. Simple techniques such as portato, staccato and legato bowing are introduced along with pizzicato, using rudimentary dynamics ranging from piano to forte, crescendo and decrescendo and simple phrasing. The pieces selected here are varied in character with memorable tunes, a few different time signatures and simple rhythms. / Niveau : Facile / Recueil / Contrebasse et Piano
