Combocom Kaffeehausmusik Music for Flexible Ensemble (Score & Parts)

Combocom Kaffeehausmusik Music for Flexible Ensemble (Score & Parts)

A touch of melancholy, a bit of nostalgia, and enough schmaltz to keep the music audible over the clattering coffee cups: that’s “Kaffeehausmusik” a style known and loved for a hundred years.  Here young ensembles in particular will find welcome alternatives to classical literature.  Pieces such as “Fräulein Gerda” and “Mir tut Ruth gut” will add color and variety to every occasion.  But even without an audience they’re fun to play.  The pieces are arranged for melody 1 (voice, violin, flute etc.), melody 2 (voice, violin, flute etc.), piano and bass, with suggestions for percussion accompaniment.

They hardly exist any more: the coffee-house pianists and tuxedoed gypsy violinists who used to play background music at coffee houses in the good old days.  And what things they played!  Of course there were the latest hits from operettas and the movies, even folk tunes, such as “Cherry Season” or “Dark Eyes”.  And it goes without saying that classical and romantic music was heard as well: Dvorak’s famous Humoresque is salon music in the best sense.  Our collection is aimed at musicians who want to play in small groups, from duos to quintets.

The choice of instruments may vary; the only obligatory parts are Melody I (sung or played) and the Piano part, which can be replaced as need be by another melody instrument (e.g. a guitar).  Melody II can join in, but it doesn’t have to.  The ensemble can be rounded off with bass (the part is written out) and drums (suggested patterns).

Score with chords and 7 parts:
Melody I in C (Voice, Guitar, Flute)
Melody II in C (Violin, Oboe, Mallets)
Melody I in B-flat (Clarinet, Soprano Saxophone)
Melody II in B-flat (Trumpet, Tenor Saxophone)
Melody I in E-flat (Alto Saxophone)
Melody II in E-flat (Alto Saxophone)
Bass (Double Bass, Bass Guitar, Cello)

“combocom” is Bärenreiter’s series of music for variable ensemble.  Each volume contains a full score for piano, keyboard or guitar, melody parts (in C, B-flat, and E-flat) and a part for bass instrument.

“combocom” also offers suggestions for using percussion.  It thus permits a wide range of instrumental combinations: if the violin takes the top part, the saxophone can play the counter-melody and the cello the bass while the guitar strums the specified chords.

But many other combinations are possible too, whether at home, at school, or in a “genuine” band, combo or buskers’ ensemble…