Die allerersten Vortragsstücke des jungen Cellisten, Op. 19, Book 1

About this piece

The first of two books of 'The Very First Pieces of the Young Cellist', twenty short pieces in first position by Hugo Schlemüller (1872–1918), a Königsberg-born cellist who taught at the Hoch Conservatory in Frankfurt. Book 1 holds Nos. 1–12, each a character piece with a title (Tone Piece, Tyrolienne, Christmas, Hunting Piece, Song, In Waltz Time, Romance, Jack and Jill, Fairy Tale, Village Music, Curfew Time, At the Old Monastery) and the skill it teaches printed above it in German and English. The cello line moves only in long notes while the accompaniment carries the music, so even the open-string pieces sound like real music. Every piece can be accompanied by piano or by a second cello; the teacher's second-cello part is printed under the pupil's line throughout. Published by Zimmermann in Leipzig in 1912; the cello parts and the piano scores of both books are free on IMSLP.

Technical overview

First position, no shifting or extensions; open strings only in Nos. 1–4 (D and A, then G and D, then C and G, then minims on D and A); then the fingers one at a time: 1st and 2nd on the A and D strings, 1st and 3rd, all three with open strings, and the 4th finger on the A and D strings and then on the G and C strings; semibreves, dotted minims and minims throughout, one note per bow, no slurs; Nos. 10 and 11 practise string crossings at the tip of the bow, from the higher string to the lower and back; keys of C, G, D and A major in 4/4 and 3/4, with half steps (F natural, B flat, C sharp) from No. 6 on; almost no dynamics marked.

Technical focus

• A String Notes
• D String Notes
• G String Notes
• C String Notes
• Detaché
• String Crossings