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Cello Repertoire Initiative

When I Am Dead, My Dearest (from Sorrow Songs, Op. 57 No. 2)

by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor · arranged by Samuel Araya

Instrumentation
Cello, Piano
Publisher
Samuel Araya (self-published on IMSLP, 2021)
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About this piece

Samuel Araya's cello-and-piano arrangement of the second of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor's Six Sorrow Songs, Op. 57, settings of poems by Christina Rossetti first published by Augener in London in 1906. The song sets Rossetti's 'When I am dead, my dearest', and the cello takes over the vocal line.

Technical overview

No technical overview is available yet.

Level rubric

Late Beginner

Left Hand

  • Mostly 1st position with small extensions.
  • Early shifting to 2nd/3rd positions.
  • Controlled vibrato on sustained notes.

Right Hand

  • Expanded bow technique for faster passages & wider dynamics.
  • Longer slurs (3–4 notes).
  • Hooked bowing for dotted rhythms.
  • Practice basic martelé accents.
  • Increase speed in string crossings with minimal arm movement.

Bow Strokes

  • Standard détaché; add staccato, martelé, short slurs, hooked strokes.

Rhythm & Musicality

  • Incorporate dotted figures, compound meters (6/8), triplets & syncopation.
  • Develop subdivision sense; introduce rubato in small measures.
  • Slightly longer phrases.
  • Introduce basic dynamic shading.

Levels are approximate guides, not strict requirements.

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