First Pieces for Young Cellists

The First Pieces for the Young Cellist

or

Die allerersten Vortragsstückchen für des Jungen Cellisten

For quite some time I have been interested in works that are either totally ignored or underplayed. It has been my purpose to find out how to play this works and root out the potential in them. 

Yes, I too, regard the greats of music as standards that show us how beautiful and well-crafted an opus can be. However, what about the works not intended to be masterpieces but educational tools? What about those composers who were earning their bread but did not have the innate sense of melody or harmonic motion of a Bach or a Mozart?

I have found, once given a chance, these student pieces or professional works to have their own charm. They don't appeal to the masses, that's true. They often don't even appeal to me right away. However, after listening to them as I play through and adjust my approach, most of the time those compositions begin to take a personality. 

Some examples are composers such as Julius Klengel (1859-1933), Georg Goltermann (1824-1898), and now (1872-1918). They all were reported as virtuoso cellists who took up teaching posts and wrote numerous student works as well as performance pieces for themselves to take to the concert halls. 

The title of this post is taken directly from the title of a set of duets for beginning student and teacher by Hugo Schlemüller.