For Love of the Double Bass

Theater piece
cb, pno, tape
First production: Robert Black (cb), James Sellars (pno), Real Art Ways, Hartford, Connecticut, 1982
Duration: 30:00
Date of Composition: 1982

PROGRAM NOTES:

For Love of the Double Bass is a concert-theater piece for double bass, piano, and tape playback. On the "concert" side, it contains nine set musical numbers, as follows:

I - INTRODUCTION AND RADIO SONATA (bass and tape playback)

II - COCKTAIL Music AND BRINDISI (bass and piano)

III - HANGOVER-SOBERING Music (piano solo)

IV - COFFEE RONDO (bass and piano)

V­ - MUSIQUE DE COUTURE EN Turns MOUVEMENTS (bass solo)

VI - PREPARATION FOR THE BALL-DANCE SEQUENCE-PROMENADE HOME-LATE NIGHT Music (piano solo with electronic tag)

VII - TANGO (tape playback)

VIII - Touch Music (bass and piano)

IX - NOCTURNE (piano solo)

On the "theater'' side, For Love of the Double Bass reveals a double bass player's relationship to his or her instrument, which can be, especially in the case of the human-size double bass, deep, intimate, charming, and sentimental. The point of For Love of the Double Bass is to demonstrate that relationship-not to act out a "story'' in any literal sense. The work contains three characters: Bass, Bassist, and Pianist.

                                                                                    -James Sellars

SHEET MUSIC DOWNLOADS

Touch Music (1982) (for Robert Black) (from 'For Love of the Double Bass')