Description

Originally for violin, František Simandl’s tasteful transcription of Beethoven’s Romance Op.50 for double bass and piano is now available in a new …edition and with accompaniments for both solo and orchestral tunings. First published by C.F. Schmidt (Germany) in their ground breaking series of original works and transcriptions for double bass, there are musical and technical challenges aplenty for the intermediate bassist and much to enjoy for performers and audiences alike. Composed in 1798, shortly after Beethoven’s arrival in Vienna, Romance was not published until 1805 and there is speculation that it could have been intended as the slow movement of a violin concerto which was never completed. Kevin Bazzana describes the work as “…a tender adagio cantabile movement that could have been titled “Song Without Words,” so beautifully and directly does it showcase the lyricism of the violin. Its form is a conventional five-part rondo (ABACA) with a short, lovely coda; however, it does offer glimpses of the impending heroic style of Beethoven’s middle-period symphonic works.”