Chopin composed several works for cello, influenced by his friend the famous cellist Auguste Franchomme; the Grand Duo Concertant, an opera paraphrase on Meyerbeer’s “Robert le Diable,” is among them. Franchomme personally participated in the elaboration of the cello part. The early Polonaise op. 3 with slow introduction was written by Chopin for the cello-playing Polish Prince Radziwill;. Chopin cleverly underlays the cantabile melodies of the cello with fireworks of pianistic brilliance. A dazzling, energy-laden early masterpiece!
G. Henle Publishers stands for Urtext sheet music of the highest quality. The Urtext editions not only provide the undistorted and authoritative musical text but are also aesthetically pleasing, optimised for practical use and extremely durable. And then there is the strong, distinctive blue profile: (almost) all of the Urtext editions are bound in the characteristic blue cardboard.
Musicians trust Henle's blue Urtext editions because they:
- provide an undistorted, reliable and authoritative musical text
- offer superb, aesthetically appealing music engraving
- are optimised for practical use (page turns, fingerings)
- are of high quality and durable (cover, paper, binding)
- contain a short preface that introduces the work (particularly useful for AMEB exams) in German, English and French, as well as explanatory footnotes for particularly interesting passages in the score
- contain a description of the sources, an evaluation of the sources, readings and a documentation of the corrections made (= "Critical Report") in German and English, and often also in French
