Rossini - William Tell Overture (Urtext, cello/bass part)

Rossini’s overture to William Tell contains one of the essential “bread and butter” excerpts for cellists. This edition of the cello/bass part is based on the Troupenas edition, with rehearsal letters inserted from the Breitkopf edition so that it can still be used alongside parts from that set.

Several details in the French Urtext version differ noticeably from the familiar German edition. In measure 8, the first note of Cello 2 is F-sharp, not D-sharp, and Cello 5 plays A-G, not F-sharp-E. These readings are not mistakes; the same notes appear in the vocal score published by Schott in the same year. The pizzicato passage is also distributed between the tutti cellos and basses rather than assigned to two solo basses. The Cello 1 part avoids many later editorial articulations and slurs, keeping the text simpler and closer to the source. At the end of the famous solo, the final note returns to E5 in measure 48 instead of remaining on E6, and the introduction as a whole uses dynamics more sparingly.

Another important difference appears in measure 154, where the bass part is marked fortissimo rather than piano, as in the German version. The fortissimo reading makes musical sense as the final crash of thunder.

The download includes two files: one with a score for the introduction, and one with the solo parts broken into separate parts on facing pages.

Well-suited for orchestral excerpt study, auditions, lessons, and professional preparation, this edition gives cellists and bassists a source-based alternative to the commonly used version of one of Rossini’s most important orchestral excerpts.