Mozart’s Violin Sonatas: Transcribed For Cello
Here is the sheet music (and play-along accompaniments) for a selection of Mozart‘s Violin Sonatas, transcribed for cello.
If you like these sonatas, you are in good company: Einstein loved them and played them often (apparently with great passion). This is not surprising as they really are extraordinary, beautiful, amazing etc ……. words simply fail us. And what’s more, there are so many of them! If we include his early sonatas, written when he was still a child, then we can count almost 40 of them but the cellofun transcriptions only concern the later “mature” sonatas, of which 17 are presented here. 15 of these are transcribed in their entirety while from each of the K403 and K547 “beginners” sonatas (written for his wife Constanza and possibly never intended for publication), only one movement has been transcribed as stand-alone concert pieces, the others being considered not quite interesting enough.
Playing Mozart’s Violin Sonatas on the cello is like discovering an Aladdin’s cave of musical treasures. What started with the transcription of one sonata became an unstoppable avalanche: the pleasure (and surprise) of actually being able to play this music (and not only listen to it) was irresistible! The subject of transcribing violin music for cello is dealt with on its own dedicated page (click on the highlighted link).
- K296 in C major
- K301 in G major
- K302 in Eb major
- K303 in C major
- K304 in E minor
- K305 in A major
- K306 in D major
- K376 in F major
- K377 in F major
- K378 in Bb major
- K379 in G major
- K380 in Eb major
- K403 in C Major
- K454 in Bb major
- K481 in Eb major
- K526 in A major
- K547 in F major
Most of the sonatas presented here are in their original key, with the violin part simply transposed down an octave. Only in sonatas K378 and K454 have the keys been changed – in each case lowered by a minor third – to make them more playable. For those two sonatas, the transposed piano parts are also offered with the cello parts. For the other (non-transposed) sonatas, the piano parts are not available here but are available for free download from imslp.org.
Alternatively, the Henle Urtext editions – a model of german craftsmanship, attention to detail, and respect for both composer and performer – are a great addition to our music library. It is this wonderful Henle Urtext edition that has served as the original source for the “Literal Transcriptions” in which all of the notes (transposed down an octave), slurs, articulations, dynamics etc are taken directly from Mozart’s original manuscripts.
Very occasionally some notes are changed in these cello transcriptions to adapt them to the cello but this occurs almost exclusively for the revoicing of chords and double-stops, very occasionally in complex passage-work, but never in melodic passages.
For the violin, this music lies always in their Neck Region (up to the mid-string octave on their E-string). When transcribed for the cello in the original key however, all of the music that lies on the E string of the violin lies for us in our Intermediate and Thumb Regions on the A string (see Transcribing Violin Music for Cello). Although the highest notes (E) of these Mozart Violin Sonatas played on the cello in their original key (but transposed down an octave) are actually lower than the highest notes of the Beethoven Cello Sonatas and Variations, the frequency of the need for our higher registers adds a considerable amount of difficulty for us cellists.
This is especially relevant when Mozart suddenly changes the violin’s octave (register), leaping up an octave with the same ease as if he were writing for piano. On the piano, or in the Neck Position of a string instrument, playing the same music in different octaves doesn’t normally change the difficulty level at all but leaping up an octave into the stratosphere on the cello can be an effect whose charm is outweighed by the intonation (positional) difficulties it presents. In these cases, it has sometimes been preferred to ignore the register change. Daring cellists can, of course, restore the original registers.
THE “EASIER VERSIONS”
In the “Easier Versions” of these sonatas, the passages involving higher register playing have normally been transposed down an extra octave so that the cellist, just like the violinist, basically never needs to leave the Neck Region. Occasionally a few notes in the Intermediate Region have been allowed to remain in the “Easier Versions”, but only when these notes are in a relatively easy context, with plenty of time to find them: it would be a shame to have to transpose an entire passage down an octave just to avoid those isolated notes.
The “Easier Versions” of these sonatas, with their transpositions down by two octaves of the high passages, are not only infinitely easier to play, but also they can easily sound just as good (if not better) than the “correct” one-octave transposition that is used almost always in the “Concert Versions” (Edited and Clean).
But it is not just the “high passages” that are difficult. In very tricky or fast passages, occasional notes in these “Easier Versions” have also sometimes been changed or removed to make the playing easier. Sometimes, rewriting just a few little passages in this way opens up this wonderful music to be played by any cellist, removing the fear of bombing out in (or stressing out over) a few tricky bits !