The Grand Duo concertant in E major, B. 70 is a composition for

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keybo ...

and

cello The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a bowed (sometimes plucked and occasionally hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually tuned in perfect fifths: from low to high, C2, G ...

, written jointly by Frédéric Chopin and

Auguste Franchomme Auguste-Joseph Franchomme (10 April 180821 January 1884) was a French cellist and composer. For his contributions to music, he was decorated with the Légion d'honneur in 1884. Life and career Born in Lille, Franchomme studied at the local conse ...

. It was written in 1832 and published in 1833."Grand Duo Concertant (Chopin, Frederic)"
imslp. Retrieved on 2009-05-30. Chopin had initially been contracted by his publishers to write a work for piano based on Giacomo Meyerbeer's opera ''

Robert le diable ''Robert le diable'' (''Robert the Devil'') is an opera in five acts composed by Giacomo Meyerbeer between 1827 and 1831, to a libretto written by Eugène Scribe and Germain Delavigne. ''Robert le diable'' is regarded as one of the first grand o ...

''. He had attended a performance and liked the work, but was disinclined to write a "fantasia" (as he put it in a letter to his family) on another composer's music. However, his friend Franchomme persuaded him to jointly write a piece for cello and piano, using themes from the opera. Chopin devised the general structure of the piece and wrote the piano part, with Franchomme writing the cello part. The piece was published under both their names, and was favourably reviewed by Robert Schumann.Liner notes from Polish National Catalogue recording by Halina Kowałska and

Władysław Szpilman Władysław Szpilman (; 5 December 1911 – 6 July 2000) was a Polish pianist and classical composer of Jewish descent. Szpilman is widely known as the central figure in the 2002 Roman Polanski film '' The Pianist'', which was based on Szpilman ...

, released in Australia by World Record Club. Chopin later dedicated his Cello Sonata in G minor to Franchomme, and they remained close friends until Chopin's death in 1849. The piece appears in catalogues of Chopin's works as B. 70.

References

External links

Grand Duo concertant free scores
a
IMSLP
Compositions by Frédéric Chopin Collaborations in classical music 1832 compositions Compositions in E major {{classical-composition-stub