Jean Daniel Braun is not a composer whose works are widely performed, nor is there much information about his life and compositions. The date and location of his birth are not well documented, but it is thought that he was born in Alsace, the eastern-most region of France. His death was recorded as occurring on April 2, 1738, making his birth likely in the late 17thcentury. In his autobiography, Johann Joachim Quantz mentions meeting Jean Daniel Braun and his brother, Jean Frédéric Braun, during his six-month visit to Paris between August 1726 and March 1727, which is really the only affirmative mention about Braun and his activities during his lifetime. In addition to being active as a flutist and composer, Jean Daniel Braun was also a music publisher in Paris, the result of his receiving a ten-year royal privilege to print several of his own works. This royal privilege, which served as an early form of copyright, allowed him to publish his first collection; a set of Sonatas for Flute with Basso Continuo in 1728. He went on to publish ten more collections of his own compositions, the majority of which were for flute and continuo, with some notable exceptions, including a set of 6 sonatas for two bassoons or other bass instruments. Jean Daniel did not personally publish the last volume of his works, Sonata a flûte traversière et basse suivie de differentes pièces sans basse[1]it is thought that Jean Frédéric Braun discovered the manuscript, assumed them to be composed by his brother, and saw them to publication under his brother’s name.[2]

These suites, while not originally written for cello, sound well-suited to the instrument and present some unique technical challenges that do not normally present themselves in the cello repertoire, including multiple rapid shifts in quick succession and rapid large interval leaps. In the 18th century, it was very common for works to be transcribed for and performed on other instruments. Braun's novel use of a treble clef in one key and a bass clef in another at the beginning line of each of the 5 suites (the 2nd Suite excepted, however, it does have a note for bass instruments to transpose to the appropriate key at the beginning), is proof that Braun did not have a single instrument in mind for these suite. It is therefore fitting that these suites should and can be performed on the cello.

There are two versions of the suites in this edition. The first is as it appears in the edition at the Bibliotheque Nationale de France (Paris). The bowed version provides the editors suggested bowings that are more suited to performance on cello.



[1]David A Wells, liner notes from Twenty Four Solos by Jean-Daniel Braun, Nadina Makie Jackson, 2011
[2]Jean Daniel Braun, Sonata a flûte trabersière et basse suivie de differentes pièces sans basse. Paris 1740

Foreword by Marcello Castellani, tr. Elsa and Amedeo Stolfi, and Aaron Haas

Archivum Musicum: L’Art de la flûte traversièreVol. 23 Florence: Studio Per Edizioni Scelte, 1982