Pedagogical transcriptions for teaching two advanced works for cello: Beethoven’s Sonata for cello and piano no. 3 in A major, op. 69 and Haydn’s Cello concerto no. 1 in C major, Hob.VIIb.1

Advanced cello students and their studio teachers have a wide range of literature to study and perform that spans approximately 400 years. Despite this wealth of repertoire, advanced music from the classical era is often understudied or overlooked due to difficulties of the accompanying part, written either for the piano or the orchestra. For example, Beethoven’s cello sonatas tend to be avoided by teachers of advanced young students because of the difficulties in securing a pianist. Additionally, Haydn’s cello concerti demand a great deal of rehearsal time with an experienced pianist in preparing the student to perform with a full ensemble.

The purpose of this study is to provide pedagogical assistance to the cello studio teacher of advanced students. This detailed teaching edition reduces the original accompaniment into a single cello part to be played by the studio teacher during lessons. The transcriptions do not replace the music written for the piano, but functions as a three-part pedagogical bridge: teaching the student the solo; accompanying the student in the cello reduction; and preparing the student to play with the accompaniment as originally conceived. The two compositions presented in this aid are Beethoven’s Sonata for Cello and Piano No. 3 in A major, Op. 69 and Haydn’s Cello Concerto No. 1 in C major, Hob. VIIb.1. This practical study will refer to An Annotated Translation of Evegeny Shenderovich’s Overcoming Technical Difficulties in the Piano Transcriptions of Orchestral Scores by Marcelina Turcanu.