Beautiful Dreamer (S. Foster), mandolin quartet

[Martin Jonas]

Stephen C. Foster (1826-1864): "Beautiful Dreamer", 1864

This is one of the last songs that Stephen Foster ever wrote, published posthumously after his early death in 1864. My arrangement for mandolin quartet (two mandolins, tenor guitar and mandocello) is in the key of D major. This is such a pretty melody, and really enjoyable to play on mandolin.

1898 Giuseppe Vinaccia mandolin (x2)
Vintage Viaten tenor guitar
Suzuki MC-815 mandocello

I attach a PDF score of my arrangement, which I combined from several different versions I found online variously for guitar, violin and piano. The score has separate parts for mandola and OM as well as guitar chords -- these can be combined ad lib to make a trio, quartet or quintet.

Either of the "mandola/OM" parts can be played on octave mandolin. The higher part can also be played on CGDA mandola and the lower can be played on mandocello. For my recording, I played the lower OM part on mandocello with an eighths-note tenor guitar arpeggio pattern on the chords, and omitted the higher mandola part.



Martin