FRANTIŠEK HERTL | 30 Miniatures for double bass and piano - Urtext | DOUBLE BASS & PIANO | scordatura: GDAE (original) and AEBF# | original piano score
FILE FORMAT: PDF | 300 dpi | 204 pages
RELEASE: world's first release, composer's original text as piano score (Urtext) and transposed version for double bass
SCORES: Double Bass 2x | Piano 1x
SCORDATURA: in C (GDAE) | in D (AEBF#)
SOURCE: original composer's handwritten text, all compositions by F. Hertl are under copyright protection until 2043
TRANSPOSED PIANO PART (DISCONTINUED): Although the "30 Miniatures" were intended for performance on double bass tuned in “orchestral tuning” GDAE, it was surprising how well the performance in “solo tuning” AEBF# worked. The results were this way surprisingly good and way better than when the piano part was transposed one tone higher. In comparison to some other double bass composers, Hertl obviously composed these works on the piano, so playability on the fingerboard was certainly not his decisive criteria (although he gave it a little more thought in some miniatures). The first editions have also included a piano part transposed one tone higher. Over time, it became evident that playability on the piano in this way was often problematic. Some works (in keys with many sharps) were very difficult to read on the piano when transposed. Transposed keys sounded often less convincing than the original ones. Since the transposed double bass part has proved to be a much better solution in practice, the transposed piano part has been discontinued in the meantime (although earlier releases have included it). On the double bass in solo tuning, only few single notes (the low E) will be out of reach. This can be solved by tuning the lowest string to E instead of F#. Otherwise one can simply perform the low E an octave higher. Such situations occur rarely, although the "30 Miniatures" are composed in a much lower register than one is used to from other solo works for double bass.
COMPOSITIONS: 1. Alla pollaca, 2. Barcarolla, 3. Bagatella, 4. Pastorale, 5. Menuet, 6. Smutná píseň, 7. Taneček (a little dance), 8. Ukolébavka (Lullaby), 9. Burleska, 10. Dumka, 11. Scherzino, 12. Píseň beze slov (a song without words), 13. Toccatina, 14. Variace (Variations), 15. Gavotta, 16. Arietta, 17. Furiant, 18. Matenik (Confusion), 19. Česká, 20. Valčík (A little valse), 21. Meditace, 22. Elegie, 23. Capriccietto, 24. Lístek do památniku (A card for the pocket book), 25. Alla marcia, 26. Andante triste, 27. Humoreska, 28. Legenda, 29. Etuda and 30. Melodie
Photo: archive of Hertl family © copyright protected
František Hertl, (ca 1970) at the time of composing his "30 Miniatures for double bass & piano"
He would be mighty proud of this moment: world’s first release of František Hertl's „30 Miniatures“ is herewith finally there. Unfortunately it has taken no less than 50 years for this impressive collection of the short works to be published.
ABOUT 30 MINIATURES: As part of its cultural mandate, former Czechoslovak State Radio has commissioned in the 1960s and 1970s many compositions from the appreciated members of the former „State Association of Czechoslovak Composers“. František Hertl was one of such composers and he was commissioned and payed the fee in advance to deliver the cycle of 30 miniatures for double bass and piano. Double bass part was meant to be around the grade of difficulty of the conservatory degree (equivalent to the bachelor's degree today). Hertl was supposed to submit the scores by a deadline so that sheet music could be printed by a state music publishing house. Hertl delivered the sheet music in time for the expiry of the deadline, but for some inexplicable reason the sheet music never appeared. There was enough time to compose, but for various reasons Hertl only managed to complete part of the work by short before the deadline. So he had to compose some miniatures under great time pressure. This was no easy task, not even for an experienced, outstanding composer like Hertl was. Because of the time pressure, there was not enough time to try out the works and to optimise some parts. For this reason, the composer made more mistakes than was usual for him and did not correct them later. We think we can tell which miniatures were created under time pressure by the amount of mistakes. He received his manuscripts back and perhaps intended to check everything again before the scores were printed. His sudden death in early 1973 prevented him from
finishing some projects he had started, perhaps his unexpected decease also had the decisive influence on the fact that the works were not printed at all. Transposed scores contain sometimes just minor enharmonical changes, for easier reading.
This release is a charity project. Composer's daughter, Ms Květa Hertlová lives in Prague on tight budget, so all three of us who contributed to this release (Prof. Jiří Hudec, composer Jiří Gemrot and myself) have decided to forward 100% of the turnover of F. Hertl's compositions directly to his daughter. We are sure it would please the composer very much. At the same time, it makes me very happy and proud to contribute with this release to the enrichment of the concert literature for double bass with such a high quality music written by a well-known composer.
Hertl's manuscripts of 30 Miniatures for double bass & piano:
Hertl's original map of the 30 Miniatures:
WATCH VIDEOS: World's first audio & video production of all 30 miniatures by F. Hertl is being published stepwise on YouTube:
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