Cello repertoire
Orchestral cello excerpts, bowings, fingerings, and tempos
From baroque continuo lines to twentieth-century string writing, with the bowings, fingerings, and trouble spots a scanned part will never give you.
- Excerpts
- 53
- Composers
- 31
- Audition excerpts
- 30
- Eras
- 5
The cello section spends its life between two jobs: carrying the bass line and carrying the tune. Audition lists test both, which is why the standard excerpts range from the Beethoven 5 fugato to the Brahms 2 solo within the same list.
Cello excerpts also test clef fluency more than any other string instrument. Bass, tenor, and occasionally treble clef appear within single excerpts, and hesitation at a clef change is audible as a rhythmic stumble.
Preparing an audition?
30 of these excerpts appear on standard cello audition lists, ordered by difficulty and annotated with what panels listen for.
The cello audition listBrowse by era
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Every cello excerpt
Beethoven, Symphony No. 5, I, opening
Beethoven, Symphony No. 5, III, scherzo
Brahms, Symphony No. 2, II, cello opening
Brahms, Symphony No. 1, II, opening
Brahms, Symphony No. 3, III, cello melody
Brahms, Symphony No. 4, I, second theme
Mendelssohn, Italian Symphony, IV, Saltarello
Mendelssohn, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Scherzo
Dvořák, Cello Concerto, I, opening solo
Dvořák, New World Symphony, II, Largo
Dvořák, Symphony No. 8, III, cello melody
Tchaikovsky, Symphony No. 6, I, second theme
Tchaikovsky, Symphony No. 5, II, cello accompaniment
Tchaikovsky, Romeo & Juliet, love theme
Tchaikovsky, Rococo Variations, theme
Mahler, Symphony No. 1, I, cello melody
Mahler, Symphony No. 2, V, cello/bass recit.
Strauss, Don Juan, opening
Strauss, Ein Heldenleben, hero theme
Strauss, Death and Transfiguration, apotheosis
Wagner, Tristan, Prelude opening
Wagner, Ride of the Valkyries
Bach, Cello Suite No. 1, Prelude
Bach, Cello Suite No. 3, Bourrée I
Vivaldi, Cello Concerto in G minor, I
Boccherini, Cello Concerto in B♭, I, opening
Haydn, Cello Concerto in C, I, opening solo
Haydn, Cello Concerto in D, I, opening solo
Mozart, Symphony No. 40, I, cello accomp.
Schubert, Symphony No. 9, II, cello melody
Schubert, "Death & the Maiden", II, theme
Schumann, Cello Concerto, I, opening solo
Elgar, Cello Concerto, I, opening
Saint-Saëns, Cello Concerto No. 1, opening
Fauré, Élégie
Saint-Saëns, The Swan
Bruch, Kol Nidrei
Debussy, Prélude à l'après-midi, cellos
Stravinsky, Firebird, Berceuse
Stravinsky, Rite of Spring, Introduction
Shostakovich, Symphony No. 5, I, opening
Shostakovich, Cello Concerto No. 1, I, opening
Bartók, Concerto for Orchestra, II, cellos
Prokofiev, Romeo & Juliet, Dance of the Knights
Sibelius, Symphony No. 2, II, pizz opening
Ravel, Boléro, opening cellos
Holst, The Planets, Jupiter, noble theme
Vaughan Williams, Tallis Fantasia, pizz opening
Copland, Appalachian Spring, Simple Gifts
Barber, Adagio for Strings, cello voice
Handel, Sarabande in D minor
Beethoven, Symphony No. 9, IV, low-string recit.
Mendelssohn, Italian Symphony, I, cello accomp.
Excerpts test the technique underneath
Arco's cello curriculum builds the bow strokes, positions, and clef reading these passages assume.