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Music from a Cello was composed in the spring, 1972.

The piece is a continuous succession of several sections divided into five partitions (not movements), and each with its own personality. All contribute to a greater whole, not unlike William Saroyan's "The Human Comedy." Each episode or section eventually can be traced to the original motif, presented at the very beginning by the cello, or to one of its conversions.

The original format was for brass quartet, with two trumpets in Bb, French horn, and bass trombone. If the bass trombone was not available, a tenor trombone with "F" attachment could be used; by that time, it had become a common instrument. Later, I created a tuba part just to make it a legitimate brass quintet, as that is a more common performing ensemble. It was not much more than a doubling of the trombone part.

Late in the second decade of the 2000s I decided to enter many of my better earlier works into the digital format. Of course, before the 1990s everything was handwritten. The score and each individual part were tediously written with ink on paper, sometimes on vellum—as used by draftsmen. For some works I used felt pens and for some pencil; in the beginning it was all done with pen and ink—typically with an architect's or calligrapher's pen.

As I began the process, I found many areas in the works called for revisions or expansions or enhancements, and some even begged for another movement or two. Such is the case with Music from a Cello. The now second movement is new, and most of the revisions were applied to the final movement.

The title comes from my infatuation with a lovely young cellist. This was in fondness of her.

Revisions and expansions (especially to Conversations) completed on August 11, 2019 Finished enhancing the Tuba part on November 05, 2019 Added "Waltz" for new second movement on December 24, 2019

Performance time: approximately 8'58"

Vanessa McClintock