Popper - Spanish Dances, Op. 54 (Urtext Edition, Piano Version)
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.
This new Urtext edition is based principally on the first Rahter edition and incorporates newly examined manuscript sources for 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 important pre-publication state of the work and provides additional evidence for fingerings, bowings, articulations, expressive markings, and other details later associated with the printed edition.
In the solo cello part, fingerings, bowings, and articulations have been combined from the surviving sources. The Critical Commentary records errors, significant variants, source differences, and later penciled annotations in the Sérénade manuscript. Artificial harmonic fingerings have largely been omitted, since they follow an obvious pattern once the first note is established.
A separate edition for cello and orchestra presents the complete set in a newly prepared orchestration intended to remain close to Popper’s own musical language.
Well suited for recitals, competitions, advanced study, and professional performance, the Spanish Dances give cellists opportunities to explore character contrast, rhythmic clarity, Spanish color, lyrical phrasing, harmonics, articulation, and refined Romantic virtuosity.
ASTA level: 4–5