Lavotta, Janos - Easy Duos for Two Violins

Composer and violinist János Lavotta (1764-1820), as a member of the ''virtuoso trio'' who played a great role in the history of Hungarian music, was one of the pioneers of verbunkos music. (The other two key players being János Bihari and Antal Csermák.) Although Lavotta s Violin Duos Op. 49 must have also been used for playing music at home, they show the composer's clear educational intent since the fourteen consecutive pieces gradually increase in difficulty in both technical and musical respects. The relatively short and undemanding melodies (which can be grasped by beginners), the sequence-like structure that makes practising individual technical elements possible, therhythmical-harmonic accompanying forms, as well as the temperately applied modulations are definitely suitable for beginner violinists to achieve significant progress in playing. According to music historian Mária Domokos, Lavotta's duos could have been included in the syllabus of any contemporary music school at the time. The first publication of Easy Duos - which came out on the 250th anniversary of the Lavotta's birth - was edited by János Dombóvári who provided the fingering and the necessary instructions for performance.