Amy Beach: Romance for double bass and piano (arr. David Heyes)

About the Composition

Romance is originally for violin and piano and transcribes beautifully for the double bass, exploring and exploiting the rich and sonorous qualities of its solo range. Aimed at the advanced bassist, this is a late-romantic work full of sweeping melodies with a richly colourful and vibrant piano accompaniment, which would be ideal for any concert or audience.

The edition includes piano accompaniments for both solo and orchestral tunings.

Composed in 1893 and dedicated to American violinist Maud Powell, Romance was first performed on 6 July 1893 at the Women’s Musical Congress in Chicago by Maud Powell and the composer, and published by Arthur P. Schmidt (Boston & Leipzig) the same year.

In recent years’ violinists have rediscovered this beautiful miniature which is also becoming popular with bassists who are searching for new and innovative recital repertoire.

About the Composer

Amy Beach (1867-1944) was an American composer and pianist. She composed in many genres, writing in a late romantic style, and her Symphony in E minor (Gaelic), premiered by the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 1896, was the first symphony to be composed and published by a female American composer.

In her later works she experimented with new tonalities, by using whole tone scales alongside exotic harmonies and techniques. Despite much success during her lifetime, Amy Beach’s music was neglected for decades but towards the end of the 20th-century there has seen a resurgence of interest in her entire oeuvre.