Violoncello - Level 5
SKU: BA.BA11043
A Song without Words
for Violoncello Solo.
Composed by Manfred
Trojahn. Stapled.
Performance score.
Composed 2012. 4 pages.
Duration 10 minutes.
Baerenreiter Verlag
#BA11043_00. Published by
Baerenreiter Verlag
(BA.BA11043).
ISBN
9790006543229. 33.5 x
25.5 cm
inches.
Manfred
Trojahn on the origin and
title of his impressive
virtuoso solo
work:
Admittedly I do
not know if he had
seagulls, but since
Mendelssohn was born in
Hamburg, he will not have
gone through life without
at least the impression
of the cry of seagulls.
Nor do I know if seagulls
played any part in his
life in Rome. I myself
was astonished when, one
or two years ago in the
Villa Massimo, I was, not
exactly annoyed but
disturbed by the strong
rhythmical cry of
seagulls. I was just
about to write a bassoon
solo when the seagulls
started.
Then the
idea came to me that
precisely this sequence
of notes could serve as
the basis of the work.
And the sequence for the
bassoon solo is, in turn,
the basis of the piece
for violoncello - this is
how titles are born... Of
course the violoncello
meanders with virtuosic
ease from the seagull
motif to the 'elf-like'
skittering brought to
music by Mendelssohn and
used time and again in
his compositions, finally
becoming a cabaletta.
Now, cabalettas are not
very representative of
Mendelssohn, but as I was
composing I definitely
wanted to put a cabaletta
in this passage.
I am
sure Mendelssohn and I
will easily agree on
this, especially since
later justice is done to
him in the rapid passages
and, of course in the
tonal cadenza at the very
end, which is more
indicative of his time
than of mine ... isn't
it?
