Popper - Spanish Dances, Op. 54 (Transcribed for Cello and Orchestra, Score)
David Popper’s Spanish Dances, Op. 54, were issued by D. Rahter in two installments: the first three dances in 1883 and the final two in late 1886 or early 1887. Unlike the Spanish-themed pieces of Sarasate and other contemporaries, these dances use Popper’s own original melodies rather than arrangements of popular songs. The set offers a colorful sequence of character pieces combining Spanish atmosphere, salon elegance, rhythmic vitality, and Popper’s unmistakable idiomatic writing for the cello. The first two numbers, Zur Guitarre and Sérénade, are dedicated to the Russian cellist Alexander Verzhbilovich. Although the first page of Zur Guitarre lacks a dedication, it appears on the title page, and the two pieces bear consecutive plate numbers, 2446 and 2447. The third number, Spanischer Carneval, plate no. 2490, is dedicated to Count Guillermo Morphy, a Spanish aristocrat, music critic, musicologist, and composer. The final two dances, plate nos. 2670 and 2671, are dedicated to the Bohemian-born cellist Heinrich Grünfeld.
Recent source research has also revealed an important pre-publication manuscript of the Sérénade preserved in the National Library of Russia among Verzhbilovich’s papers. Popper personally inscribed the manuscript to “my dear good Alexander” in St. Petersburg on January 6, 1883, approximately ten months before the first three dances were announced in Hofmeister. The manuscript preserves an early state of the work and provides additional evidence for fingerings, bowings, articulations, and other details later associated with the printed edition.
This orchestration aims to present the Spanish Dances in a manner close to Popper’s own musical language. In the solo cello material, fingerings, bowings, and articulations have been combined from the surviving sources rather than newly imposed editorially. The Critical Commentary records errors, significant variants, and source differences. Artificial harmonic fingerings have largely been omitted, since they follow an obvious pattern once the first note is established.
This package includes the orchestra score only. The solo cello part and orchestra parts are sold separately: https://yuriyleonovich.com/product/1147268-popper-spanish-dances-op-54-transcribed-for-cello-and-orchestra-parts
A separate new edition for violoncello and piano returns to Popper’s original scoring and incorporates the newly examined St. Petersburg manuscript sources for the Sérénade: https://yuriyleonovich.com/product/1148573-popper-spanish-dances-op-54-urtext-edition-piano-version
Well suited for conductors, libraries, performers, and institutions preparing the orchestral version, this score provides a clean and carefully considered basis for studying, rehearsing, and performing Popper’s Spanish Dances with orchestra.
ASTA level: 4–5