This edition is for Solo Tuning only and includes a newly typeset double bass part with a reprint of the original piano accompaniment.

The Prague School of Double Bass, founded by Vaclav [Wenzel] Hause (1763-1847) at Prague Conservatoire in 1811, has reached to every corner of the world throughout its 200 year history. Frantisek [Franz] Simandl (1840-1912,) was an important figure, whose name is still important today, and many of Simandl's students took the Prague School to countries across the world as they were appointed to key positions in symphony orchestras and at leading conservatoires, universities and music schools. Some names are still known today, usually thanks to the publication of solo pieces, methods and technical studies - a number of which are still in print into the 21st-century.

Bassists such as Ludwig Manoly, Adolf Misek, Th.A.Findeisen, Oswald Schwabe, J.E.Storch, Eduard Madenski, Max Dauthage, amongst many others, are names known to bassists to the present day, some more famous than others. Each made a significant contribution to the history of the double bass as players, teachers and composers, and there is a resugence of interest into these players as information and long out-of-print music is easily shared on the internet. For many years only a few hardened enthusiasts had any interest in this part of our heritage, but thankfully things are now changing and accurate information is being collated, researched and disseminated.

Eduard Madenski is a name known to some bassists today, although I doubt many have ever played or heard a note of his music. Born on 20 September 1877 in Vienna, Madenski began his musical studies at the age of fourteen, studying violin at the Vienna Conservatoire with Josef Maxincsaz and theory with Adolf Prosniz and Stephan Stocker. In 1892 he began to study double bass with Frantisek Simandl, graduating in 1898 with the highest honours. The following year he was appointed a member of the Vienna Court Opera and in 1909 became Principal Bass of the Vienna State Opera.

In 1910 his 'Orchesterstudien aus Richard Strauss' symphonischen Werken' was published by Edition Peters (Leipzig), still in print today, which includes excerpts from many of the challenging orchestral works by Richard Strauss which were new to players and audiences during the early years of the 20th-century, and many thought to be unplayable. Madenski and Strauss worked together in Vienna and the bassist was greatly respected and valued by the composer who commented "So gespielt, braucht der Kontrabass die Rivalität mit dem Violoncell nicht zu scheuen, im Gegenteil, sein Ton hat eine edle Männlichkeit, die dem Violoncell fehlt.“ ["When so played the bass has no rivalry with the violoncello, on the contrary, his tone has a nobility that is missing from the cello."]

Alongside his orchestral duties Madenski also played as a soloist, writing and transcribing a number of works for the instrument. He was described as a 'Kontrabass-Virtuose' at his debut solo recital in the Grosser Musikvereinssaal in Vienna on 26 November 1903, receiving top billing above Betty Schubert, a singer with the Court Opera, alongside pianist Rudolf Heidinger. He performed a varied and eclectic programme of works by Frantisek Simandl, R.M. Mayrhofer, L. Roth, A. Simonetti, three of his own works (Pastorale, Souvenier, Reverie), ending with Bottesini's virtuosic Tarantella, which may have been the inspiration for Madenski to compose his own tarantella a few years later. He subsequently performed in Nuremburg, Brixen and Innsbruck and composed and transcribed works for double bass, and was probably the first to adapt and perform Sarasate's Zigeunerweisen for double bass, popular today in new editions of this most iconic of works for violin.

The following years saw Madenski become a member of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra and also succeed Simandl as Professor of Double Bass at the Vienna Conservatoire on the latter's retirement. Two of his most successful and famous students were Joseph Prunner (1886-1969) and Hans Fryba (1899-1986), and it is likely that Madenski wrote his 'Instruktive Tonleiter- und Akkordstudien' for his students at this time, advocating the use of the fourth finger in thumb position.

The Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra made its first trip to South America in 1922, performing 34 concerts in Rio de Janeiro, Montevideo and Buenos Aires, and according to the orchestra's website "...was greatly admired with true southern fervour wherever it appeared..." The success of the tour was followed by a further invitation to tour South America in the summer of 1923, and this time the orchestra played 42 concerts in Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paolo, Montevideo, La Plata, Buenos Aires and Bahia. The website continues "...this trip, however turned into a nightmare: first violinist Karl Knoll, suffering with depression, committed suicide by throwing himself out of his hotel window; clarinettist Franz Behrends died in Buenos Aires of pneumonia; and on the return trip plague brok out aboard ship, killing several passengers including contrbassist Eduard Madenski. In the presence of deeply grieving colleagues, his corpse was committed to the deep at latitude 22, longitude 20 near the African coastline."

Polish bassist-composer Michal Bylina writes: "...Madenski made a sizeable contribution to the revival of solo playing on the double bass in Vienna, becoming one of the greatest bassists after Simandl. His premature death was a big blow for the double bass school in Vienna..." Barely 46 years old when he died, Eduard Madenski had been a successful solo and orchestral bassist, teacher and double bass composer, and almost a century after his death, his name is still remembered by many double bass historians and activists. The intriguing question is what else he would achieved had he lived longer...

Eduard Madenski's Tarantella for double bass and piano was composed in 1909, according to Miloslav Gajdos, and was subsequently published by Louis Oertel. Karl Ludwig Nicol in his CD liner notes for 'The Virtuoso Romantic Double Bass' writes: "...His Tarantella is a very difficult piece requiring tremendous technical skill on the part of the best virtuoso of the contra-bass..." and his description is certainly accurate. As a great player himself, Madenski obviously knew the solo potential of the double bass and exploited the technical challenges to the limit. Bottesini's Tarantella is probably the most popular and performed work in the genre today and technically accessible to many, but Madenski's work is far more advanced but also worth the occasional outing and certainly deserves to be better known. Only available in solo tuning and probably still in print but never seen in music shops and only available by special order, it is unlikely that many bassists even know the existence of the work. It was recorded by Yoan Goilav (double bass) and Laurenz Custer (piano) in 1972 and is still available on CD (http://www.cduniverse.com/productinfo.asp?pid=1255192&style=music), but there doesn't appear to have been any other recordings since the early 1970s.

In one extended movement and lasting around eight minutes, this is a tour-de-force for the solo bassist, even today, and there are technical challenges throughout the range of the double bass with the opportunity to display a supreme command of the instrument and to demonstrate what is possible on the double bass. There are the usual fireworks and pyrotechnics expected in a tarantella, with a beautifully slow and lyrical middle section framing music of great spirit and energy. There are, however, not many musical depths plumbed here, but this isn't what a tarantella is about, and the music is lively, rhythmic, fun and full of virtuosic bravura. The technical demands put it out of reach of most but there are also many nowadays who would encounter few technical difficulties or challenges. It was included on the repertoire list for the Markneukirchen Double Bass Competition in 2005 and the Sperger Competition in 2008, so there is some interest still although there is no documentation to confirm if it was performed at either competition.

Eduard Madenski may be gone but he is certainly not forgotten. I can imagine organising a mini-festival of his music, alongside that of his contemporaries, in 2023 to commemorate the centenary of his tragic death on his return from South America. There may be no gravestone to visit to remember this great player but the music lives on and deservedly so.

David Heyes [10 August 2015]