Women Composers: A Graded Anthology for Violoncello and Piano, Book 1

About this piece

Women Composers: A Graded Anthology for Violoncello and Piano is a planned three-book Schott series. It is edited by Beverley Ellis, a cellist, teacher and arranger born in Scotland and raised in Australia, who has taught at the University of Music Freiburg and the Bern Conservatory. Book 1 (ED 24028; the title page is dated 2025, and retailers have stocked it since February 2026) gathers 28 pieces by 14 women composers. The historical figures are Anna Priscilla Risher, Käthe Volkart-Schlager, Carita von Horst, Bertha von Brukenthal, Adaline Shepherd (Live Wires Rag) and Els Aarne (Nocturne, Op. 56 No. 1). The living composers are Barbara Heller, Vera and Charlotte Mohrs, Elaine Fine, Magdalena König, Magdalena Cynk, Susanne Paul and Vasiliki Kourti-Papamoustou. Ellis's preface explains that 'the cello was long regarded as unfeminine or even indecent', so the few cello works women did write 'are often too demanding for early instruction'. As a result, many of the contemporary pieces 'were written especially for this collection', and some older ones had long been out of print or never published. The book is laid out in two sections, Elementary (international Grades 1–3) and Intermediate (Grades 4–5), and everything stays in the neck positions. The Elementary section holds Volkart-Schlager's Sonatine, Risher's four Miniatures, Heller's six-part Moments, Vera Mohrs's Cat Songs and Kourti-Papamoustou's Baroque-ish. The older works are edited from first editions and manuscripts held by the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin and the Estonian Music Foundation. König and Paul supplied their own fingerings and bowings, and an appendix gives notes on the composers and practice tips. Schott issues the book as a score with a separate cello part.

Technical overview

128 pages with 28 pieces: Elementary (Grades 1–3, pp. 6–16) and Intermediate (Grades 4–5, pp. 17–35), all in the neck positions. Risher's Barcarolle is a G-major 6/8 cantabile in first position with 2- and 3-note slurs, slurred string crossings, rit./a tempo and hairpins. Heller's 'Now' and 'Eternal' are in free time ('Frei', 'senza misura', rubato), with accents and dynamics from ppp to f, and descend to the open C. The Intermediate pieces add syncopated jazz and funk rhythms (Pumpkin Pie, Frogster Funk) and extended techniques: Bow Dance uses left-hand pizzicato, sul tasto, sul ponticello, bowing on and behind the bridge, and chop.

Technical focus

• Legato
• 2 Note Slurs
• 3 Note Slurs
• 4 Note Slurs
• Dotted Rhythms
• Dynamics
• Hairpin Dynamics
• Rubato
• String Crossings
• Pizzicato
• Rhythm
• C String Notes
• G String Notes
• D String Notes
• A String Notes