Etudes for Violincello solo, Vol. 1

Friedrich Dotzauer (1783–1860) learnt several instruments during his childhood, but decided in favour of the cello as his main instrument, as “only the violoncello evoked the unforgettable soulful alto voice of his dear mother” (Art. “Dotzauer”, Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie, 1877). He composed and published an extensive œuvre of etudes for the cello between 1829 and 1850 when he retired as court musician in Dresden.

For this first of three volumes, the British cellist and musicologist George Kennaway compiled thirty of Dotzauer’s “easier” etudes from the popular “18 Exercices d’une difficulté progressive” op. 120 as well as the collections op. 47, 107, 126, 160 and the “Méthode de violoncelle”. In this selection, double stops, string crossings or the tenor clef are hardly used, the pieces rarely move beyond the fourth position and contain a mixture of fast and slow, often expressive exercises.