As a baroque cellist, you’ll mostly find yourself playing continuo and bass lines, so it’s great to practice shaping these kinds of lines in your solo repertoire. In the 17th century the cello was predominantly a bass line instrument, and even the solo repertoire typically stayed in the bass range. There are facsimile/manuscript editions available on, but I highly recommend Broude Brothers’ performer’s facsimiles.ĭomenico Gabrielli (1659-1690) – Ricercari for Violoncello SoloĬonsidered to be some of the first pieces written for solo cello, the ricercars by Gabrielli are a great introduction to 17th century style. Baroque music is harmonically-driven, so it’s essential for the soloist to understand what’s going on harmonically and not just in the solo part. If you can, ask another cellist, bassist, or keyboard player to play the continuo part with you so you can get practice hearing the harmony. Because these pieces are not very dense musically, they’re great for implementing stylistic elements and getting comfortable with a baroque set-up. Watch performances of Bach’s Cello Suites on baroque cello here.Īntonio Vivaldi (1678-1741) – Six Sonatas for Cello and Basso ContinuoĪnother set of works popular on modern cello, the sonatas by Vivaldi are quintessential cello pieces that are great for getting used to playing with continuo. Vivaldi (and many other 18th century Italian composers) had a great understanding of the violin family instruments, so his music is particularly idiomatic. If you’re looking for a cheaper alternative to Bärenreiter’s Urtext, they have a condensed version here.

Unfortunately we do not have a surviving manuscript in Bach’s hand, so we have to look at a few different sources and make our own decisions from there.

I suggest the Bärenreiter Urtext edition which includes 5 manuscript sources for the suites. The Suites also make you play multiple voices at once which is good practice for understanding counterpoint and harmony. You’ll often be playing chords and double stops which will be helpful for building your baroque bow technique. The Cello Suites are great pieces to work on many technical elements. You’ll be working with gut strings instead of steel strings and also adjusting to new musical concepts, so it’s best to start with a clean slate to avoid too many modern habits creeping in. I suggest choosing a suite or movement that you haven’t studied heavily on modern cello, just to avoid your muscle memory taking over your technique. This is an obvious first step as many cellists play these pieces on modern cello. Bach (1685-1750) – Six Cello Suites for Unaccompanied Cello Between your own knowledge and research of performance practice and what the composer gave you, you should have more than enough information to get you started. Most 20th century editors aren’t referring to the historical treatises that we use in performance practice, so their editorial markings (dynamics, bowings, etc.) are usually more to a 20th century aesthetic. We want to avoid modern print editions that have editors weighing in on musical decisions. For performance practice that means something in the hand of the composer, or if not his hand, a copyist from the same time period. Here are a few of my suggestions and resources to get you started.īefore we talk specifics on pieces and composers, make sure that you get a good edition. Many cellists who decide to explore baroque style and performance practice aren’t sure where to turn for repertoire.

Cello repertoire