IMSLP Forums

First of all, I'd like to sincerely thank the admins, copyright reviewers and tagging team for putting up with me for the past month and a half; my goal was to fight the confusion and obscurity that surrounds the double bass solo literature, and although my wishlist keeps getting larger, I think there's been some significant improvement. Several essential (and many nonessential) works now have their place in the library, with your help, and others have had valuable information added or corrected. I also discovered some fantastic pieces while browsing the collection.

Next, I'd like update the list of compositions featuring the double bass, but before I sweep through it like a hurricane, are there any guidelines for pages like these? In short, I think it should:

1. give newcomers an overview of the most popular solo works (of all kinds of instrumentation), while also showcasing notable pieces that have been neglected
2. suggest interesting chamber music pieces to the reader that feature a double bass, preferably from great composers (like Dvorak's second string quintet or Rossini's sonate a quattro); this used to be quite a conundrum when I was the only bass player at a summer camp for string players
3. offer some examples of notable orchestral pieces in the instrument's historical development (such as Beethoven's symphonies), or which contain double bass solos (like Haydn's symphonies 6-8, or Mahler's 1). Works for string orchestra also go here

So it's a tradeoff between completeness and usability. Here are my concrete ideas for each of the points above:

1. • Offer a virtually complete list of concertos, seperated by time period, with viennese works split off from the rest of the classical period. I say "virtually" because Keyper's seven concertos do not need to be referenced individually; I would link to the "romance and rondo" (which is a selection from two of the concertos and the only work by him that is ever played) and then add a link to a slice of the category walker for the concertos.
   • For the other categories (e.g. duos, works for db & piano...), list only works of particular interest (the most well-known pieces but also hidden gems and unusual instrumentations), but have the title link to the category walker for a complete overview
   • If allowed, maintain a list of concertos that are not yet available (e.g. Pichl, Hoffmeister, Zimmermann and Sperger for the Viennese section) and ones that are lost (Haydn, grrrrr); maybe also list some pieces that are not yet PD, for the reader's information, like Nino Rota's wonderful Divertimento Concertante?
   • I would consider (especially for the Viennese concertos) adding a few words as a guide (these may be subjective); for example, that Dittersdorf is the most played, that Vanhal is the most musical, that Kohaut is the most antique in style; or that Scontrino's has never been recorded, or published in its orchestral version
2. • For chamber works, maintain a list of several common instrumentations (e.g. ordinary string quartet + db, strings with piano etc), with only the most notable examples for each, and a link to the category walker for the rest. There'd probably be an 'other' category
   • If allowed, would add a few words indicating whether the bass part is independent/challenging/solistic
3. • Orchestral examples absolutely need some explanation to warrant their inclusion, IMO, since they're really just curiosities and did-you-knows; it's not like an orchestra director would browse this list looking for works to put on the programme. Right now this section is bloated, as if we want to maintain a list of all works with continuo, or all symphonies with combined cello/bass parts and ones without; I'd just scrap it and start fresh
   • Also for historical purposes, maintain a list of notable method books (right now, that would be Bottesini and Simandl) with a link to the category walker for the rest

If anyone with some authority has objections, suggestions, or simply doesn't care, please let me know!

I get the impression that these "List of Compositions Featuring the ..." pages pre-date the category walker system and many have been abandoned in terms of being manually updated. No major updates have been done to the double bass page since 2009. In my opinion you are welcome to modify and expand it as you see fit.

cypressdome wrote:In my opinion you are welcome to modify and expand it as you see fit.

Done. Hope you placed a watch on this page.

bicinium wrote:So it's a tradeoff between completeness and usability.

For completeness, http://imslp.org/wiki/List_of_Compositi ... ouble_Bass could be a collection of links to http://imslp.org/wiki/Category:For_double_bass http://imslp.org/wiki/Category:For_viola,_double_bass etc.

For usability, there are many personal choices in your criteria: most popular, interesting, notable etc. Is imslp the right place for such a personal page? Perhaps your user page?

coulonnus wrote:For completeness, http://imslp.org/wiki/List_of_Compositi ... ouble_Bass could be a collection of links to http://imslp.org/wiki/Category:For_double_bass http://imslp.org/wiki/Category:For_viola,_double_bass etc.

I was already planning on it, but some of those categories are too large to be of much use. Hence a smaller, manual list of pieces to accompany it.

coulonnus wrote:For usability, there are many personal choices in your criteria: most popular, interesting, notable etc. Is imslp the right place for such a personal page? Perhaps your user page?

But nobody is going to go looking for that information on my user page. IMO, what gets on these lists is always pretty subjective to begin with, but I do want to avoid laying down my opinion as fact; however, there ought to be some things that aren't up for much debate. For example, there are chamber music pieces that often show up on concert programmes and are well-known among bassists, or solo pieces that are often requested at auditions. At the same time, someone browsing the category page may overlook e.g. Josef Labor's piano quintet, which is very rewarding for the bassist. I propose that something is objective enough if it doesn't lead to edit wars.

Thank you for getting in on this. I'm currently doing a typeset of my favorite concerto; after that, I'll start listing the concertos in an overseeable manner, which should be pretty OK in terms of subjectivity.

Relevant:
http://johnfeeney.musicaneo.com/blog/ar ... /2407.html

The "chamber music" category could rightfully include many works that are currently tagged for string quartet with cello. Not calling for an edit war, but this could be mentioned or linked to discreetly somewhere.

I've had a go at it, without touching the transcriptions and orchestral sections for now. I've removed quite a few entries in the "chamber music" section; most of those were flat out wrong, but some of them were excluded on more subjective grounds (I prioritized dead and/or professional composers).