Baroque, Free Sheet Music, Intermediate Cellists
First published on May 12, 2024 by Seb
Last updated on Jun 26, 2024 by Seb
Joseph Dall’Abaco was born 25 years after J.S. Bach. He was a celebrated cellist and wrote many cello music. But few of his solo compositions survived. Fortunately we do have a 19th-century copy of his 11 Capricci for solo cello, even if the copy contained obvious errors, and recorded only half of the last piece. These 11 unaccompanied cello pieces evoke in one, the same feelings from listening to Bach’s cello suites.
Of these 11 pieces, the No. 1 in C minor is the most popular today, in the historical performance circles. Many celebrated cellists play it with a Baroque cello setup, complete with gut strings, a convex bow, without an end-pin, while holding onto the bow well ahead of the frog.
One such interpretation by Hanna Salzenstein differs from the rest. She paints this music with a haunting and serene air, by adopting a slower tempo. The truth is that the copy of the manuscript had barely any notations beside notes themselves. Folks have been interpreting and phrasing this music themselves ever since the discovery.
Find below sheet music, with annotations inspired by Hanna Salzenstein’s recording. Following are PNG and PDF versions with annotations.
If you are an advanced cellists, you will want to figure out your own slurrings, bowings and fingerings. Find below clean sheets with only notes. Both PNG and PDF versions are available.
The soundscape that gut strings paint is very different from that produced by powerful steel strings. This difference is especially pronounced for notes played on the A string. Listen to this recording by Cullen O’Neil, again with a Baroque setup, with gut strings. She plays it at a faster tempo common in today’s recordings.
In contrast, here is a version by Irena Josifoska, performed on a modern cello with steel strings, with a modern bow. Somehow she was able to produce, with her incredible skills, a soundscape very close to Baroque cellos.
Here is an MTV-like production of a performance, on a modern cello with a modern bow, but played on gut strings and with the right hand holding the modern bow far ahead of the frog.
There are no authoritative publications of 11 Capricci with corrections, and suggested slurrings/fingerings, at least not in the public domain. You can make your own, starting with the few found on IMSLP, and annotate them yourself, possibly inspired by above cellists.
Finally, there is a 2023 publication by Joseba Berrocal of the first 10 capricci, with editorial corrections. This drops the 11th which was only half-written in the original copy. And it adds four cello sonatas that the editor felt fit the series, and can be played without its original basso part. All changes are carefully annotated by Berrocal, so that you can reconfirm them yourself against the original.
Alternatively, you can start with our Musescore files which you can further edit in the free Musescore app. But since you can’t download most Musescore files on the commercial Musescore’s website unless you are a paid user, we store .mscz files on this site whenever we can, so you can freely download them here. They are saved here as .zip files because WordPress does not accept .mscz files. Just download them and unzip:
Lastly, enjoy the first 8 capricci performed by Kristin von der Goltz in a luthier’s workshop captured in this video.