• New in Print - 12 Divertimentos for Solo Mandolin

    12 Divertimentos for Solo MandolinPacific, Mo. — Mel Bay Publications has announced the release of John Goodin's 12 Divertimentos for Solo Mandolin.

    James Oswald, a prominent Scottish composer, music publisher and teacher, composed and published 12 divertimentos in London around 1759 for the popular wire-strung cittern known then as the "guittar".

    The body of work was intended to help meet the demand for easy to intermediate solo guittar music. Arranged here for the modern mandolin in both standard notation and tablature, each piece includes three or four short movements full of pleasant melodies and interesting ideas.

    Whereas the original compositions were published in the key native to the guittar tuning (an open C major chord), this book offers the music in a variety of mandolin-friendly keys.

    The transpositions adhere to Oswald's original intent that the music be easy to play and pleasant to hear. While suitable for teaching and performance these divertimentos are, above all, fun and satisfying to study and play.

    "Back in 1982 Norman Levine's Plucked String imprint published a set of three anonymous 18th century pieces, prepared and edited by Neil Gladd, for two mandolins," Goodin told us. "Eventually, with the help of Rob MacKillop, I figured out that they had been composed by one James Oswald. Rob also pointed me towards this set of 12 solo pieces, which he has recorded on their intended instrument. Back in 2003 I wrote an article about discovering this music and I've presented some of it at Classical Mandolin Society of America workshops over the years. I suggested this book to Mel Bay recently and I'm very pleased to see them offer some of Oswald's music to players of the modern mandolin.

    "I think mandolinists will find Oswald's work to be very worthy of their attention. It certainly contains its share of fine melodies and ancient tones. Oswald was a man who knew his fiddle tunes (most folks agree that he composed "The Flowers of Edinburgh", among others) as well as how to please the ear of the upper classes. Like many mandolin players today he was versatile, playing multiple instruments as well as composing. A certain Benjamin Franklin heard Oswald playing cello in London and said that he saw 'tears of pleasure in the eyes of his auditors.'"

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