Yuriy Leonovich

Every other school year I teach a 400-level class called "String Literature Survey" at Bob Jones University in Greenville, SC. This class is designed for string majors to learn about sonatas from 1700 to 2000, starting with Corelli's violin sonatas…

My sources are Stephen De'ak's David Popper and Clytus Gottwald's Max Seifriz: Beiträge zu Lebenslauf und Werk. Other sources are linked. Additional information is provided in brackets.

29 March 1860 (Royal Estates Theatre in Prague, Prague Conservatory Orchestra under Kittl)

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We are celebrating our new release of Tchaikovsky's Variations on a Rococo Theme Urtext Edition.

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840–93) remains, arguably, the most famous Russian composer from the 
Romantic Era. His Variations on a Rococo Theme reflect his lifelong passion…

(Presented in alphabetical order)

Ars Antiqva (Complete Instrumental Works by Vivaldi edited by Olivier Fourés) 

If you are looking to play some of the more obscure works by Vivaldi, you might start with the Ricordi complete edition (which is highly…

Welcome to the most comprehensive list of David Popper's works available on the web. This list includes detailed information about each piece, including opus number, movement titles, dedications, and years of publication. Each title has been checked against primary sources…

Friedrich von Mulert (AKA Friedrich Vilgelmovich and Fedor Vasilievich Mulert (19 June 1859, Mitau, now Jelgava, Latvia - 1924, Kyiv, Ukraine) - cellist and teacher. In 1884 he graduated with a medical degree from the Yuryevsky University (now University of…

Opera fantasias were a way of life for musicians of the Romantic era. They grew out of the potpourri and variation genres of the late 1700s. Opera fantasias could be as simple as a medley of short themes, as with…

Say the word "caprice," and our minds immediately go to Paganini and Piatti. However, other composers also wrote caprices as studies, among them François Servais (1807-66). Servais was a Belgian cello virtuoso and composer. As was typical of the Romanic…

Welcome to my comprehensive list of editions for the standard cello repertoire. I hope that you find this list helpful when choosing the right piece for yourself or your student. Each work includes a grade level 1 through 6 (based…

Prokofiev's Sinfonia Concertante is undoubtedly one of the most important concertos in the cello repertoire from the last 70 years. However, the currently available edition is far from perfect. Between the solo part and orchestral score, there are dozens of…

Camille Saint-Saëns (1835-1921) wrote five major works for the cello: a suite with piano (rev. orchestra), two sonatas, and two concertos. Cello Concerto No. 2, Cello Sonata No. 2, and the revision of the early Suite, Op. 16, coming from…

Today, Victor Herbert is best remembered for his operettas, but he was an accomplished cellist, a student of the infamous Cossmann, and a composer of some lovely cello works. As much as it is difficult to believe, Herbert's Cello Concerto…

Often, when looking for the first "real" concerto to give to our students, we go to the list that includes Haydn C, Saint-Saëns 1, Lalo, and Boccherini-Grützmacher. I would like to present to you Carl Maria von Weber's Grand Potpourri…

Undoubtedly, Barber's concerto is one of the greatest of the 20th century. In my Critical Notes Series, I typically look at misprints and textual variants. But the solo part of Barber's concerto was proofread with a great amount of accuracy…

Undoubtedly, Joseph Haydn's Divertimento is a staple of the cello repertoire. Besides the 2 cello concertos, Haydn didn't leave us with any sonatas, so a fancy arrangement for cello and piano is always welcome. The story of Piatigorsky's arrangement is…

Suite Op.16 was originally composed in 1862 for cello and piano by the young Saint-Saëns, full of life and passion. In 1919, he orchestrated 3 of the movements from the 1862 Suite and replaced the third (Scherzo) and fifth (Finale)…

This December, I would like to offer some of my experience in research and edition preparation. Our first session concentrated on how I go about making a cello part from start to finish. You can re-watch the session below. Here…

As with Stravinsky, Rachmaninov's cello sonata is currently suffering from reprint-itis, whether you get it for free on IMSLP or pay an arm and a leg for the Boosey edition. Be warned, it's all the same. I am currently…

Most of the music written in the last 100 years is monopolized by the original publishers. I'll venture to say that most of this music was killed by the original publisher because it was pulled out of print. We may…

Many cellists have adopted Schnittke's Suite in Old Style as their own, although it was originally composed for violin and piano (or harpsichord). I would argue that it sounds better with harpsichord. Since this work has made it into the…

This work was written about 3 years ago by Arsentiy Kharitonov, a pianist-composer from St. Petersburg, Russia. Currently residing in Texas, Kharitonov composed this solo cello tone poem for Cicely Parnas. The entire work germinates from the first three measures…

C.P.E. Bach's A major Cello Concerto has enjoyed longstanding popularity. Bach himself has a version of this work for solo cello, solo flute, or solo keyboard. In the last 100 years, it has been rearranged for cello and orchestra by…

Born in Riga, Latvia, Don Jaffé moved around quite a bit due to the war and anti-Semitism in Eastern Europe. His family was forced to flee to Siberia in 1941. After returning to his native town at age 14, Jaffé…

Tomorrow will mark 25 years since I started playing cello. It has been a tough but very rewarding road. Thinking about the subject I wanted to share with my readers on this occasion, I settled on my continued learning and…