Ronde des nymphes
by Júlio Reis
- Instrumentation
- Cello, Piano
- Publisher
- Musica Brasilis (free edition; edited by Marcílio Lopes, revised by Thadeu de Moraes Almeida; CC BY-SA; ISMN 979-0-802327-89-4)
Purchase or download
About this piece
Júlio Reis (1863–1933) wrote many waltzes, polkas, mazurkas and tangos for the Rio de Janeiro of his day before turning to orchestral music, and his opera was staged in Rio in 1923 for the centenary of Brazilian independence. He subtitled this cello piece Intermezzo and dedicated it to the conductor Ignacio Porto Alegre. The cello sings an unhurried A major tune in long slurred phrases over a light bass-and-chord accompaniment, and twice rises into the treble register; the second time it climbs in accented steps to a high F-sharp, trills, and closes on a long, quiet C-sharp.
Technical overview
Moderato grazioso in A major and common time. Most of the part sits in bass clef within the first four positions, mainly in half and quarter notes under long slurs, with triplets, grace notes and double-sharp accidentals. Two treble-clef passages, which sound as written, reach C-sharp and E in the octave above middle C and, at the climax, the F-sharp on the top line, so the player needs the upper positions and a first, slow taste of thumb position before the closing trill.
Technical focus
- Accidentals
- Bow Control
- Collaboration with Piano
- Dynamics
- Grace Notes
- Legato
- Shifting
- Thumb Position
- Treble Clef
- Trills
- Triplets