The Sarabande and Gavotte, Op. 10, are dedicated to Robert Emil Bockmühl (1812–1881), a fine cellist, composer, and transcriber. Popper paired these two movements much like those found in a Baroque suite, leaning stylistically toward J. S. Bach’s keyboard partitas and suites. The Sarabande features the piano doubling the cello in the same octave for much of the piece, giving the cello an obbligato character and making the work accessible to students. The Gavotte proper is a playful dialogue between cello and piano, with a pastoral musette in the parallel major serving as the contrasting middle section. Popper’s Sarabande and Gavotte were performed as early as 31 March 1867 in Löwenberg.

(Excerpted from the preface of the Urtext edition published by Yuriy Leonovich)