Learning together

It was extremely rare during the Romantic period to hear works for several cellos performed in the concert hall; it was repertoire that was intended rather for teaching purposes. The Duos pour deux violoncelles (1839-1855) by the then virtuoso cellist Jacques Offenbach are graded from ‘very easy’ to ‘very difficult’: they were written in order to enable two students of the same level to play together from the same score. Other cello teachers, such as Auguste Franchomme (professor at the Paris Conservatoire from 1847 to 1884) and Félix Battanchon (professor at the Geneva Conservatoire from 1851 to 1861) also produced such pieces for their students.