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Recommended Reading
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750): Suite in G Major for Unaccompanied Cello, BWV 1007
1. Prelude
2. Allemande
3. Courante
4. Sarabande
5. Menuets 1 & 2
6. Gigue
When Bach set out to write six suites for solo Cello around 1720, the only works that existed in this medium were Sonatas by Domenico Gabrielli (1651-1690). At the time, the cello was simply a bass instrument that doubled continuo parts, and wasn't considered as a solo instrument, although a number of pieces had been written for the bass viol (also called viola da gamba), which the cello was progressively replacing in most formations. However, Bach's achievement was so monumental that his Suites still remain the most important works ever written for cello, most of the ones following them inspired by them.
The first Suite, in G Major, starts with what is probably the most famous cello "tune": its Prelude has been used in many films and adverts. Built on a sequence of arpeggiated chords in almost restless semiquavers, it reaches its climax right at the end, after a long chromatic scale superimposed on an even longer dominant pedal. An Allemande is a quadruple metre dance, in which the dancers form a line of couples, extend their paired hands forward, and parade back and forth the length of the ballroom, walking three steps, then balancing on one foot. However it is highly improbable that this Allemande (or any other in the suites) was danced to, and Bach takes a lot of freedom in writing long flowing lines. "Courante" literally means running in French: it designates a fast triple-metre court dance consisting of short advances and retreats (there are different variants of the Courante, notably the italian version, generally faster and usually referred to as "Corrente", usually opposed to the French variant, which Bach uses mostly). The Sarabande is a slow stately dance in triple metre, which originated as a much faster dance in Spain. Its main feature is its accented second beat, which Bach often emphasizes with a change of harmony. Menuets (or minuets) are a social dance from France in triple metre. The word comes from Latin minutus, becoming minuetto in Italian and menuet in French, meaning something along the lines of small, pretty and delicate. The Gigue is a lively dance in triple metre (usually compound), considered to be a peasant dance with a very heavy emphasis on first beats. However, once again Bach's gigues are highly stylized and unlikely to have been danced to.
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827): Sonata in C Major for Piano and Cello, Opus 102 no.1
1. Andante - Allegro vivace
2. Adagio - Tempo d'Andante - Allegro vivace
When talking about Beethoven's works, it is nowadays conventional to classify his output into three periods: the "early" period, the "middle" period and the "late" period. However everyone does not agree on where to situate these three periods in time. Whereas it is easy to define the beginning of the early period and the end of the late one, the limits in time of the middle period are difficult to identify. These three periods are defined by some stylistic traits of Beethoven's writing, the earlier period being Beethoven at his most classical; the middle period could be said to correspond to what for most composers is their mature output, where Beethoven has developed much further his personal voice that was already showing in the early period. The late period is the period of Beethoven the visionary; affected - afflicted - by his increasing deafness, Beethoven created a completely new sound-world, unlike anything heard before (the music he produced in this period has been described as abstract, transcendent, timeless...). Nowadays, despite a continued heated debate about the issue, the C Major Sonata is generally recognized as the first piece of Beethoven's late period. His once pupil Czerny, who saw (or rather heard) Beethoven for what he was, wrote of this sonata that it "belongs to the last period of Beethoven's career, in which he no longer embellished his ideas by the ordinary effects of the pianoforte, (as passages and the like,) but ordered the construction of the work in its simple grandeur; so that the player must the more endeavour to impart to each thought, as well as to each note, its full significance."
Johannes Brahms (1833-1897): Sonata in E minor for Piano and Cello, Opus 38
1. Allegro non troppo
2. Allegretto quasi Menuetto
3. Allegro - Più Presto
The title page of the original edition of Brahms' Sonata Opus 38, composed between 1862 and 1865, reads "Sonata für Pianoforte und Violoncelle Herrn Dr. Josef Gänsbacher freundschaftlich gewidmet von Johannes Brahms" (Sonata for Piano and Cello, dedicated with a lot of friendliness to Dr. Josef Gänsbacher by Johannes Brahms). It is said that Brahms wrote this sonata with his friend Josef Gänsbacher in mind: Gänsbacher was a professor of singing at the Vienna Singakademie and played cello as a hobby, although his proficiency on this instrument can be doubted. Henry Drinker relates an anecdote on the subject in his book "The Chamber Music of Johannes Brahms": "In the course of [a private] performance Brahms played so loud that the worthy Josef complained that he could not hear his cello at all - "Lucky for you, too", growled Brahms, and let the piano rage on". Thus it is not so surprising that when Brahms sent the Sonata to Simrock for publishing, he described it as "a violoncello sonata which, as far as both instruments are concerned, is certainly not difficult to play". However, if the sonata is not as technically demanding as his second one in F Major, its musical complexity is such that most players would describe it as anything rather than easy.
Brahms wrote this sonata at a time when he was studying Bach's scores very closely, and this sonata can be seen as a kind of homage to Bach: the contrapuntal treatment is very close to that of the baroque master, but also the theme from the fugato Finale is almost a direct quote of one of the fugues in Bach's "Art of the Fugue" (the first five beats of the theme of Brahms' Finale are the same as that from Bach's Contrapunctus XIII, Brahms takes a different turn from the sixth beat)
Fritz Kreisler (1875-1962):
Liebesfreud
Liebesleid
Fritz Kreisler "was the last, best ambassador of Nineteenth-century Vienna to a twentieth-century world." Born and brought up in Vienna, Kreisler was immersed in music from a very young age. He started playing on a toy violin at the age of four, his first teacher being his father. However, Kreisler mastered the instrument so quickly that his discouraged father gave it up and switched to the cello instead (he later switched to the viola when Fritz's younger brother Hugo surpassed him on that instrument). He was admitted to the Vienna Conservatory at the age of seven, the youngest pupil hitherto admitted (his mother lied about his age). The Conservatory offered three years of secondary-school training followed by three years of undergraduate training. Fritz was admitted as an undergraduate! He studied violin there with Joseph Hellmesberger Jr, a prominent Viennese violinist, but also composition with Anton Bruckner himself. Also while studying in the Vienna Conservatory he taught himself piano, becoming the accompanist for many of Hellmesberger's other pupils, and was in close contact with Brahms, playing with ensembles on which Brahms "tested" new pieces, having them play them to him before publication so he could still make some alterations. After three years at the Conservatory, Kreisler obtained the gold medal for violinists (at the tender age of ten), and was leant a three-quarter size Amati violin to continue his studies in Paris, where he spent two years at the Conservatoire before obtaining a Premier Premier Prix, the highest prize the institution awarded, as well as being presented with a Gand-Bernardel violin. His childhood Vienna is present in many of his works, notably his famous Liebesfreud and Liebesleid, based on Austrian dances (respectively the Steyrischer and the Ländler), but also in Schön Rosmarin, Caprice Viennois, Im Paradies... It stayed with him for his whole life, permeating every one of his compositions, his rhythm in performance, and also every interview made of him, when he frequently recalled his childhood in the glorious musical city.
Claude Debussy (1862-1918): Sonata in D minor for Cello and Piano
1. Prélude
2. Sérénade et (3) Finale
Debussy's very short Sonata for Cello and Piano, written in 1915, is the first of an intended set of six Sonatas for various instruments. Unfortunately he died after writing only three of the six, respectively scored for Cello and Piano; Violin and Piano; Flute, Viola and Harp. The other three sonatas would have been: the fourth one for oboe, horn and harpsichord, the fifth one for clarinet, bassoon, trumpet and piano, and the last one for all of the instruments of the previous sonatas.
The Cello Sonata was written at a time when Debussy was dying of colorectal cancer, placing him in great pain as well as financial difficulty. The Sonata was initially going to be subtitled "Pierrot fâché avec la lune" ("Pierrot [referring to the character from the commedia dell'arte] angry with the moon"), and it is very interesting to look at the sonata in this (moon)light; however, Debussy dropped the title for the first edition.
Edward Lockspeiser writes in Debussy: His life and mind about the Cello Sonata: "In his later years, it is the pursuit of illusion that marks Debussy's instrumental writing, especially the strange, other-worldlyCello Sonata. This noble bass instrument takes on, in chameleon fashion, the character of a violin, a flute, and even a mandolin."
