The Heritage Series features a wealth of exciting and innovative music from the 19th and 20th-century by some of the leading bassist-composers of the day. Each book includes three or four works for the intermediate-advanced bassist bringing music by significant figures in double bass history back to life in the 21st-century.

Book 5 includes three rarities from Ireland, Italy and Great Britain, composed in the late-19th or early 20th-century, emphasising the lyrical and technical potential of the solo double bass. This edition includes piano accompaniments for both solo and orchestral tuning.

C. Franchi – Précieuse Gavotte
Précieuse Gavotte is originally for violoncello or double bass and piano, also published in editions for solo piano, violin and piano and orchestra. The music is elegant and charming, accentuating the lyrical and cantabile qualities of the double bass in its solo register, and would be suitable for any audience or occasion.

Very little is known about C. Franchi although he was believed to have been a 19th-century Neapolitan bassist, with the forename Carmine. He may have lived in Monaco for much of his working life and been a bassist with the Monte-Carlo Philharmonic Orchestra. One thing that is certain is that Franchi composed three works for double bass, all published by Costallat & Cie in Paris, of which the Introduction & Tarantella is his most popular and performed.

Herbert Hughes – The Boatman of Kinsale
The Boatman of Kinsale is lyrical and song-like and is a rare British work for double bass from the early 20th-century. It is written in the solo register of the double bass, with a lyrical and gently moving accompaniment, and was completed in Chelsea on 12 April 1926 and premiered three days later at London’s Wigmore Hall by Victor Watson. Victor Watson (1886-1963) was known as ‘the Master’ in the music profession and was a regular double bass soloist during the early years of his career. He commissioned and performed a number of solos and his recital at London’s Wigmore Hall on 15 April 1926 featured no less than four premieres of British works, including The Boatman of Kinsale. The manuscript was discovered by David Heyes in November 2005.

Herbert Hughes (1882-1937) was an Irish composer, collector of Irish folksongs and music critic of The Daily Telegraph. He was born in Belfast, studied composition with Charles Villiers Stanford at the Royal College of Music, and was a founder member of the Irish Folk Song of London. He collected more than 1,000 Irish folk songs, many published, alongside composing a limited amount of chamber music, songs, theatre and film music.

James Haydn Waud – Reverie
Reverie is believed to be Waud’s only work for double bass and the first publication suggested it could also be played by violoncello or bassoon. Typical of much salon music at the end of the 19th-century, it emphasises the lyrical qualities of the double bass in its orchestral register, with an accompaniment which adds colour and support

James Haydn Waud (1848-1918) initially studied cello before transferring to the double bass and achieved an impressive reputation as an orchestral bassist and teacher. He was Principal Bass in Hans Richter’s London Concerts, Newman’s Queens Hall Orchestra and the Queen’s Hall Orchestra, eventually succeeded in the latter by Adolf Lotter. Waud was the first Professor of Double Bass at the Guildhall School of Music in London, teaching there for over thirty years, and was one of the first to popularise the four-stringed double bass in England, although he advocated the tuning GDGD.

“Reverie is a charming salon piece in the bel canto style, though without substantial decorative coloratura that is common in the Italianate repertoire…a pleasant melody with a little rhythmic variety and lies within the orchestral register.” [ESTA News and Views]

“…Reverie contains all the hallmarks of a pedagogical piece written in the late-19th century – it is flowingly lyrical, melodramatic, in clear ternary (ABA) form (complete with a key change in the middle section), written within the traditional orchestral register…As a teaching piece it is valuable for students preparing to play the Capuzzi Concerto, as it is not as substantial in length or difficulty.” [Double Bassist]