The Dachs Study was composed presumably in 1877 and named for Josef Dachs, a piano teacher at the Conservatoire. It was a common practice to use the letters of his name and base the composition on the corresponding sequence of notes, in this case on the [German] notes D-A-C-H-(E)s [English notes: D-A-C-B -Eb].

Striking is the unusual orchestration: Instead of a second viola or a further cello Rott employs a double-bass. Such an orchestration was used by Dvorák for his Quintet in G major (op. 77), published in 1875. It is not known whether Rott knew about this work.

Josef Dachs

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Movements:

Alla breve molto

Moderato

Scherzo. Vivo

Finale. Largo

Orchestration:

2 violins, viola, violoncello, double-bass

Length: c. 15 minutes

The edition is available for hire from:

Johannes Volker Schmidt-Verlag
Fritz-Tarnow-Str. 38
60320 Frankfurt am Main
Germany

E-Mail

March 31, 1990
University of Washington/USA
First performance of the first movement

May 21, 2002
Andrusier Ensemble
London/GB
First performance of the complete work