Dussek – Sonata in C Minor

[sophie-hoyt]

Approximately what level of difficulty is Dussek’s Sonata in C Minor?

[Sylvia]

How is level of difficulty determined, please?
Maybe other forum members can give specifics.

[patricia-jaeger]

In some countries Associated Boards or string instrument associations have a few experienced teachers form a committee to sort good teaching and performance material by “grades” so that a beginner of any age would likely use Grade 1 lists for awhile, and at the teacher’s discretion, would gradually use Grade 2 lists and proceed possibly as far as material in Grade 7 and 8 if the student can play virtuoso works of difficulty, or wishes to teach.. The lists may change slightly over the years, when a new “syllabus”, would be brought up to date. The American String Teachers Association. syllabus of 1997, the last one I have seen, puts all Dussek Sonatas in grades 2 and also in grade 4, without any other qualification. More exacting are those of Associated Boards of Australia and of the Royal Schools of Music (used in the U.K. and Canada). Those syllabi list the Dussek sonata No. 2 in F as Grade 4, the same level as Angelus by Renie, and the Sonata No. 1 in C minor as Grade 7, the same level as the Pescetti Sonata in C..
A serious harp student who would enjoy having the harp for future livelihood, would
do well to purchase one or more of these graded lists of time-tested classics, which nowadays also include some popular and jazz titles (The Pink Panther by Mancini for example) and try to master the harp level by level, using the collective judgment of the very experienced teachers who graded the music.

[carl-swanson]

It’s so funny to see these listings by difficulty. It makes me wonder how good the harpists are who make up these lists. On a scale of 1 to 8, with 1 being the easiest, I would put the Angelus by Renie at barely level 2 and maybe level 1. I would put the C minor sonata of Dussek at maybe a 4, with the Pescetti at about the same level. Think about it… Level 7 or 8 would be reserved for things like the Renie Balade or Piece Symphonique, Or some of the big Parish-Alvars things, truly difficult pieces. Even the Debussy Dances I think I would put at a level 6 as well as the Ravel Introduction and Allegro. This is all based on technical difficulty only. But there is a huge difference between the Dussek C minor and the level 8 pieces mentioned above.

[Tacye]

It is on the ABRSM grade 7 list (see http://gb.abrsm.org/en/our-exams/other-instruments-and-assessments/harp/grade-7/ for other stuff on the list) with the usual caveat that pieces can be at different levels with different expectations for how well they are played, and different players find different pieces hard or easy. I think grade 7 used to be described as ‘lower advanced’.

Please note that the Sonatinas are by JL Dussek but the C minor Sonata, despite the Zabaleta edition, is by S Dusssek.

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