Erster Verlust (First Loss), Schumann adapted as a Mandolin duet

I was a viola player in a previous life, and just picked up the mandolin in the past year. As a kid, I took enough piano to keep up with the band-geeks in theory class. This was my favorite piano piece.

I used the free version of NoteFlight to adapt it for two mandolins. It took a few iterations to capture the feel of the hand crossing from the original, while making playable double stops and chords. Some of the slurs don't quite translate but I kept them in. With the free version of NoteFlight, you can't have a sustained note double-stopped with a shorter one, so I had to experiment a little with the notation. In the end, I think this holds true to the original while being playable on a pair of mandolins.

And if you'd like to hear the original...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OpbDKmXVKnY

Really nice, thanks, do you have the .abc file for that? Unfortunately I don’t read fast enough, but I’d like to play it.

Thank you - unfortunately, I don't know how to transform it to abc format with the free software.

Many thanks for this transcription!

I made a recording using your score a few weeks ago, which I forgot to post. So, here it is, played as a duet of mandolin and mandocello. I only realised after recording that the left hand part is meant to be played in the same octave as the right hand melody (as indeed you have notated), but I think it works pretty well like this anyway.

Robert Schumann (1848): Album für die Jugend, Op.68
No. 16: Erster Verlust (First Loss)

1890s Umberto Ceccherini mandolin
Suzuki MC-815 mandocello



Martin

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Martin Jonas

Many thanks for this transcription!

I made a recording using your score a few weeks ago, which I forgot to post. So, here it is, played as a duet of mandolin and mandocello.

1890s Umberto Ceccherini mandolin
Suzuki MC-815 mandocello

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So long ago in fact that I forgot my instrumentation: that's tenor guitar, not mandocello on the accompaniment.

1890s Umberto Ceccherini mandolin
Vintage Viaten tenor guitar

Martin

Thanks for letting me know! :)