21 Exercises

The French cello virtuoso Jean-Louis Duport (1749-1819) was one of the most important cellists of his time and worked as a solo cellist at the Paris Opera and professor at the Paris Conservatoire among others. His cello method 'Essai sur le doigter du violoncelle et la conduite de l'archet' (1770) contained an appendix with the present 21 studies which spread very quickly because of their completely new fingering (thumb position). Today, Duport's studies form part of the standard repertoire of the training as a cellist, not only because of the clearly structured technical tasks covering all aspects of advanced cello playing (double stops, velocity, triads, playing on several strings, thumb position, intonation in lesser known keys, etc.). They are also very popular because of their appealing musical layout and useful to train tone and expression. This edition is a must-have for every cello student.