Menuet (JP Beukema, 1782-1859)

[Martin Jonas]

Jacob Pieters Beukema (1782-1859): Menuet No. 56

I'm not sure if this tune should be properly called a classical piece, a baroque piece or a folk tune: it's a minuet from a 19th century manuscript by J.P. Beukema, a Dutch school teacher in the village of Leens near Groningen. The manuscript was rediscovered in 1992 and championed by the Groningen folk band Törf, who in 1998 released a CD "Törf speelt Beukema" along with a facsimile edition of the manuscript. A PDF trancription of all the tunes by one of Törf's members is at:

http://lusthof-der-muziek.blogspot.c...a-ca-1850.html

However, the transcription I've used is by Michel Van Der Meiren (attached here as his site is down). The melody and harmony parts are identical in both transcriptions, but where Törf have chord symbols, Van Der Meiren has a bass line. No idea what is more in keeping with the manuscript, but I like the bass line and have used it.

Nobody really knows if Beukema really wrote these, or whether he collected them -- the mid-19th century is a strange period to be writing a minuet. Whatever the origin, this is a really nice catchy tune which falls beautifully under the fingers on mandolin. Fun to play solo, as a duo or a trio.

Törf have included this tune on their 1998 album, played at a rather slow tempo which while appropriate for a minuet doesn't to my ear particularly suit the tune. I've played it rather faster, and in a more baroque style, as a trio of mandocello and two bowlback mandolins, one steel-strung and one nylon-strung.

"Baroq-ulele" nylgut-strung mandolin
1915 Luigi Embergher mandolin
Suzuki MC-815 mandocello



Martin

[rubydubyr]

Beautiful! Gonna see if I can talk my daughter into learning one of the parts and I the other and we can play it

[dj coffey]

If you're interested in classical duo mandolin repertoire, I've been playing in a duo for the past 4 years and we've got a number of things that are good skills builders plus easy tunes that sound good!

[rubydubyr]

Actually, I am interested in all types of music that I can play on the mandolin, as long as it is easy enough for me to actually be able to play at this point.