Toccata for Double Bass and Piano (2012, rev. 2020) Newly revised version for double bass tuned in by Thomas Oboe Lee Double Bass - Digital Sheet Music

SKU: A0.869156

I received an email from Joel Quarrington in 2011 with a request to buy a score and a set of parts to "Hylidae … The Tree Frogs" (1991) for violin, double bass and piano. He said he would like to perform the work at the next International Society of Bassists convention in Rochester, New York.  I told him "That is great.  But it’s such an old work.  Why don’t I write something new for you?"   He said, "How much would a commission cost?"  I said, "Let me write the piece first and if you like it, we can talk about a fee then."

I began work on Toccata for Double Bass and Piano in late August and completed it on October 15.  I sent Joel the music as a PDF and MIDI file via email.  He wrote back, "The piece looks really terrific and I have enjoyed listening to it as well, thanks for the midi file.  I couldn’t be happier! "

Toccata is in three movements, "fast-slow-fast," with internal ABA ternary forms in the first and last movements - also "fast-slow-fast."

1. Moderato … Trio … A tempo.
2. Adagio.
3. Allegro … Trio … Reprise!

The first movement begins with a driving dotted-note motif in the double bass accompanied by an insistent sixteenth-note bass-line in the piano left hand and a soaring quarter-note melody in the piano right hand.  A Trio follows which features a lyric melody in the double bass … molto cantabile!   The double bass returns this time stealing the sixteenth-note bass-line motif from the piano left hand.  The double bass pushes the music forward relentlessly and ferociously … "holding no prisoners"!  To add counterpoint to this madness, the piano comes back with the quarter-note melody but in octaves this time.  The left hand joins the melee occasionally to push the music forward until it reaches its climax at the conclusion.

The second movement, Adagio, is a slow waltz.  The mournful tune is delivered by the double bass at first, then it’s passed on to the piano, and it goes back and forth between the two. 

The third movement is a 6/8 romp, very syncopated and jazzy.  The music goes back and forth between the double bass and piano, not unlike when the musicians in a jazz combo trade four’s among each other.  An "adagio" Trio follows.  The tune is in the double bass: long descending lines over a languid piano accompaniment.  To complete the ABA format, the music from the beginning of this movement returns as a reprise.