Orchestra String
Orchestra - Grade 2-2.5
SKU: CF.YAS13F
Composed by Muzio
Clementi. Arranged by
Douglas Townsend. Carl
Fischer Young String
Orchestra Series.
Classical. Full score.
With Standard notation.
12 pages. Carl Fischer
Music #YAS13F. Published
by Carl Fischer Music
(CF.YAS13F).
ISBN
9780825848339. UPC:
798408048334. 8.5 X 11
inches. Key: G
major.
IApart from
some of his Sonatinas,
Opus 36, Clementi's life
and music are hardly
known to the piano
teachers and students of
today. For example, in
addition to the above
mentioned Sonatinas,
Clementi wrote sixty
sonatas for the piano,
many of them unjustly
neglected, although his
friend Beethoven regarded
some of them very highly.
Clementi also wrote
symphonies (some of which
he arranged as piano
sonatas), a substantial
number of waltzes and
other dances for the
piano as well as sonatas
and sonatinas for piano
four-hands.In addition to
composing, Clementi was a
much sought after piano
teacher, and included
among his students John
Field (Father of the
'Nocturne'), and
Meyerbeer.In his later
years, Clementi became a
very successful music
publisher, publishing
among other works the
first English edition of
Beethoven's Violin
Concerto, in the great
composer's own
arrangement for the
piano, as well as some of
his string quartets.
Clementi was also one of
the first English piano
manufacturers to make
pianos with a metal frame
and string them with
wire.The Sonatina in C,
Opus 36, No. 1 was one of
six such works Clementi
wrote in 1797. He must
have been partial to
these little pieces (for
which he also provided
the fingerings), since
they were reissued
(without the fingering)
by the composer shortly
after 1801. About 1820,
he issued ''the sixth
edition, with
considerable improvements
by the author;· with
fingerings added and
several minor changes,
among which were that
many of them were written
an octave higher.IIIt has
often been said,
generally by those
unhampered by the facts,
that composers of the
past (and, dare we add,
the present?), usually
handled their financial
affairs with their public
and publishers with a
poor sense of business
acumen or common sense.
As a result they
frequently found
themselves in financial
straits.Contrary to
popular opinion, this was
the exception rather than
the rule. With the
exception of Mozart and
perhaps a few other
composers, the majority
of composers then, as
now, were quite
successful in their
dealings with the public
and their publishers, as
the following examples
will show.It was not
unusual for 18th- and
19th-century composers to
arrange some of their
more popular compositions
for different
combinations of
instruments in order to
increase their
availability to a larger
music-playing public.
Telemann, in the
introduction to his
seventy-two cantatas for
solo voice and one melody
instrument (flute, oboe
or violin, with the usual
continua) Der Harmonische
Gottesdienst, tor
example, suggests that if
a singer is not available
to perform a cantata the
voice part could be
played by another
instrument. And in the
introduction to his Six
Concertos and Six Suites
for flute, violin and
continua, he named four
different instrumental
combinations that could
perform these pieces, and
actually wrote out the
notes for the different
possibilities. Bach
arranged his violin
concertos for keyboard,
and Beethoven not only
arranged his Piano Sonata
in E Major, Opus 14, No.
1 for string quartet, he
also transposed it to the
key of F. Brahm's
well-known Quintet in F
Minor for piano and
strings was his own
arrangement of his
earlier sonata for two
pianos, also in F
Minor.IIIWe come now to
Clementi. It is well
known that some of his
sixty piano sonatas were
his own arrangements of
some of his lost
symphonies, and that some
of his rondos for piano
four-hands were
originally the last
movements of his solo
sonatas or piano trios.In
order to make the first
movement of his
delightful Sonatina in C,
Opus 36, No. 1 accessible
to young string players,
I have followed the
example established by
the composer himself by
arranging and transposing
one of his piano
compositions from one
medium (the piano) to
another. (string
instruments). In order to
simplify the work for
young string players, in
the process of adapting
it to the new medium it
was necessary to
transpose it from the
original key of C to G,
thereby doing away with
some of the difficulties
they would have
encountered in the
original key. The first
violin and cello parts
are similar to the right-
and left-hand parts of
the original piano
version. The few changes
I have made in these
parts have been for the
convenience of the string
players, but in no way do
they change the nature of
the music.Since the
original implied a
harmonic framework in
many places, I have added
a second violin and viola
part in such a way that
they not only have
interesting music to
play, but also fill in
some of the implied
harmony without in any
way detracting from the
composition's musical
value. Occasionally, it
has been necessary to
raise or lower a few
passages an octave or to
modify others slightly to
make them more accessible
for young players.It is
hoped that the musical
value of the composition
has not been too
compromised, and that
students and teachers
will come to enjoy this
little piece in its new
setting as much as
pianists have in the
original one. This
arrangement may also be
performed by a solo
string quartet. When
performed by a string
orchestra, the double
bass part may be
omitted.- Douglas
TownsendString editing by
Amy Rosen.
About Carl
Fischer Young String
Orchestra
Series
Thi
s series of Grade 2/Grade
2.5 pieces is designed
for second and third year
ensembles. The pieces in
this series are
characterized
by:
--Occasionally
extending to third
position
--Keys
carefully considered for
appropriate
difficulty
--Addition
of separate 2nd violin
and viola
parts
--Viola T.C.
part
included
--Increase
in independence of parts
over beginning levels
John Field, sonata III
