Concertino No.10

Description

Charles Labro (1810 – 1882) was a French double bassist who played at the Opéra Comique in Paris and taught at the Paris Conservatoire from 1853 until his death in 1882. He was born in 1810 in the Ardennes region of France close to the Belgium border and was a prize-winning student at the Paris Conservatoire where he studied with Louis-François Chaft. He was a contemporary of Bottesini.

Labro was a prolific composer, his Method for Double Bass is Op.119 and he wrote ten competition pieces for the double bass students at the Paris Conservatoire, each in the form of a Concertino, and they were on the syllabus continuously from 1843 until 1882. The title of the 7th Concertino (1852) specifies that it is for a four-string instrument. In the 19th century there were an amazing 40 or more different tunings for the double bass using 3, 4 or 5 strings and differing intervals between the strings. At that time many players in France were playing a three-string instrument whereas in Germany it was more common to have four strings. In his Method for Double Bass, published in 1860 Labro specifies a four-string instrument tuned as we would today G-D-A-E. 

The tenth is the last of the Concertinos and first appears in the Paris Conservatoire list of Morceaux de Concours in 1862. This edition uses the piano accompaniment by Henri Busser first published in 1917. A more recent edition with piano accompaniment by André Ameller was published by Philippo & Combre in 1968.

The Concertino No.10 is a perfect piece for a music festival performance by a strong grade 8 player.

Set for Grade 8 exams by:

• Trinity Guildhall (2007-2009)

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ISMN: 979-0-708191-02-5