The first three movements of Johannes Brahms’ E minor Cello Sonata were composed in 1862, the last movement was written in 1865. During the first years of its performance the work was received with mixed enthusiasm. By the end of Brahms’ life, however, it was widely performed and by the first decades of the 20th century it was firmly embedded in the repertoire of many distinguished cellists. It was notably Robert Hausmann’s advocacy of the work which seems to have contributed greatly to its promotion.
Of particular value to the editors were the three early performance editions of the Cello Sonata Op.38 by Cornelius van Vliet and Edwin Hughes, Hugo Becker and Carl Friedberg, as well as Julius Klengel. The cellists’ van Vliet, Becker and Klengel’s fingering and bowing allows for a better understanding of their performance practice. As such, the Bärenreiter edition comes with a cello part marked with fingering and bowing by the editors which are based on the practices of Brahms‘ contemporaries. We also provide an unmarked urtext part.