The "NEW POPPER" High School of violoncello Playing Op. 73
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This revolutionary edition of the most important cello etude collection is focused on accuracy, clarity, ease of use, toward effective teaching and study, and features:
​- etudes are ordered by overall technical difficulty, musical complexity, and length
- common wrong notes from traditional editions are now corrected
- clarified bowings (slurs)
- simplified and effective fingerings in easy-to-read font, maintaining Popper's pedagogical intentions
- extensions and unusual fingerings are included, while more obvious/redundant fingerings are gradually eliminated
- simplified layout using repeats, D.C., Codas, measure numbers, and section markers
- consistent use of modern string indicators (I-IV, no A-C)
​- newly engraved modern notation for perfect, crisp, un-cluttered readability
- notes are not too small as in most other editions
- the revised COMPLETE EDITION is available HERE!
- Copyright © 2016 by CelloBasics.com, edited by Andrei Pricope (newly revised August 2018). All rights reserved. Reposting/sharing strictly prohibited.
  • NEW POPPER Etudes 1-6: lower positions, shifting, simpler bow management, chromatics, and fluidity
  • NEW POPPER Etudes 7-9: of the "moto perpetuo" kind, providing an interlude
  • NEW POPPER Etudes 10-29: higher level positions, shifting, more advanced bow management, chromatics and fluidity
  • NEW POPPER Etudes 30-35: double stops in increasing order of difficulty and complexity
  • NEW POPPER Etudes 36-38: special bowings (incl. up-bow staccato)
  • NEW POPPER Etude 39: mordents
  • NEW POPPER Etude 40: natural harmonics​
For the NEW POPPER, the following editions were consulted and improved upon:
  • Hofmeister (first edition in four volumes, later two volumes; 1901-1905): around 30 wrong notes, some confusing bowings, readability issues. No measure numbers, no section markers. Not in order of difficulty. Very dated text. Worth noting that Popper's autograph manuscript has not survived, therefore this first edition is the earliest source.
  • Bärenreiter (Rummel, 2004): corrected notes, but dramatically changed fingerings and bowings departing from Popper's intentions. Readability issues, surprising for this publisher. No simplified layout. Not in order of difficulty. Large format and fold-out pages a small consolation. Disappointing.
  • Dover (Yablonsky, 2007): corrected notes, but very frequent changes of fingerings and bowings departing from Popper's intentions. No simplified layout. Not in order of difficulty.
  • CelloLoft (R. Aaron, 2010): smaller print notes/fingerings. Text cluttered with obvious/redundant fingerings and over-detailed left-hand mechanics. If such technical micromanaging is required, the student sorely lacks the prerequisites necessary for Op. 73. Likewise the enharmonic simplifications of entire passages/sections, not in accordance with Popper's harmonic language, missing an important teaching and learning opportunity. Why such spoon-feeding? Not in order of difficulty. Binding a plus.
  • Ricordi (Filippini, 1991): small notes, microscopically small fingerings, but at least keeping with Popper's intentions. Ridiculous pagination, most etudes requiring page turns, some etudes even two page turns. This expensive yet completely unusable edition is the perfect example of how NOT to print music, especially educational material.
  • the International, Schirmer, and Kalmus editions are essentially reprints of the Hofmeister, with the same mistakes, consistency and readability issues, and not in order of difficulty. Not recommended.
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