Twelve Original Pieces, Op. 58

PROJECT DOTZAUER, VOL. 1

The Twelve Original Pieces for Two Cellos, dedicated to beginners, op. 58, by Johann Justus Friedrich Dotzauer, are a beautiful collection of short duets, perfectly suited to be used both in the classroom and in the concert hall. While the first cello is clearly written to play the role of the protagonist, the second cello is not relegated to a mere accompaniment seat.

As usual with Dotzauer, something that may have contributed to these gems remaining unearthed until now, these pieces do not follow a growing order of difficulty. They are more or less equivalent in requiring up to the fourth position and not too many double stops, with some interesting bowing patterns here and there. Many forms are covered (there is even a fugue!), and none of them is in a slow tempo.

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