Out of interest I've been studying the notation of some instruments lately, and in some cello scores I've found roman numberings under the stave. I assumed this indicated in which position the cellist should play, but this doesn't always seem to match with the fingerings above the stave. Can someone please shed some light on this matter?

No expert but I have this vague notion in my brain that it may sometimes relate to which string is being played on? I have a feeling I've seen this in violin scores: I'm useless and cannot remember which way round it starts, eg if the highest or lowest string is I. I came across it in higher grade pieces (ie just before I gave up ) where something that could have been spread across several strings was played sul G or whatever. (sul meaning "play it on this string even though it makes life a billion times more difficult" - don't recall if you're a string player or not and can't see your sig in the reply pane!)

I imagine that if you try and apply this to your score it may become clear whether it's right in this case or not!

The roman numerals indicate which string it is to be played on. On the violin, I is the E string, and it goes down to IV being the G string, so i would assume that for cello:

I =A string
II =D string
III =G string
IV =C string

Hope this helps!

Thanks Sarah and Singing Fiddle that makes sense, I should have thought of that. I don’t have access to the scores right now (they had to go back to the library tonight), but I will study this some more when I have them again.