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Concertino for Oboe and Winds

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Carl Maria von Weber

Carl Maria von Weber (arr. Klocker)


General Info

Year: 1809 / 1981
Duration: c. 9:30
Difficulty: (see Ratings for explanation)
Publisher: Kunzelmann
Cost: Score and Parts (print) - €27.00


Movements (played without pause)

1. Adagio
2. Polacca


Instrumentation

Solo Oboe
Flute
Bassoon I-II
Soprano Clarinet in C I-II
Soprano Clarinet in B-flat I-II
Trumpet
Horn in F I-II
Double Bass


Errata

None discovered thus far.


Program Notes

The rise of the large-scale ‘romantic’ orchestras of the nineteenth century created a genre that would become a favourite for years to come: the virtuoso concerto. Thanks to a late development of mechanism and some descriptive comments by Hector Berlioz in his Traité d’Instrumentation et d’Orchestration (1856), that left it labelled the mouthpiece of “candour, artless grace, soft joy, or the grief of a fragile being”, the oboe was largely left out of the romantic revolution as a concerto soloist. Recent music scholarship, however, has uncovered a treasure of writing from the nineteenth century for oboe and orchestra, primarily in forms of opera fantasy and concertino. The work Concertino for Oboe and Wind Instruments by Carl Maria von Weber is a charming example of the creative way composers found to bring the oboe out and in front of the romantic orchestra.

Some controversy surrounds the Concertino for Oboe and Wind. It was discovered in the early 1970s in a stack of manuscripts in the library of Prince Carl von Lowenstein-Wertheim, a friend and supporter of Weber. A manuscript of the piece was first published in 1980 by Musica Rara. Although all of the music in the stack surrounding the piece was written and signed by C.M. von Weber, this piece only had his name written on it, in a hand other than Weber's. It is thought by some that the piece is too simplistic in its writing to be Weber, yet the orchestration of the accompaniment for one flute, two clarinets in C, two clarinets in B flat, two bassoons, two horns, a trumpet, a trombone and a double bass, directly reflects the instrumentation Weber was using for a number of harmoniemusik groups, a favourite of the prince. Prince Carl was an amateur oboist, and the piece could very likely have been written for him to perform with the wind players employed at his court in about 1805. There is also a reference in Weber’s diary, “November 10, 1811: This evening I orchestrated an adagio for Flad.” Anton Flad was the principal oboist in the Munich Orchestra at that time. It could be he was re-working the very piece he wrote for Prince Carl, or perhaps there is still another work by Weber for oboe to be discovered.

The concertino form was a new format being explored in the nineteenth century. With no real standardisation, the concertino could be found in one, two, or even three movements. Weber’s oboe concertino is in two movements, played continuously but for a brief Eingänge (short non-modulating cadenza) that leads from movement one, an aria-like Adagio, to movement two, a light, upbeat Polacca.

- Program Note by Lauren Baker Murray for Naxos


Media

(Needed - please join the WRP if you can help.)


State Ratings

None discovered thus far.


Performances

To submit a performance please join The Wind Repertory Project

  • University of Illinois (Champaign) Wind Symphony (Kevin Geraldi, conductor; John Dee, oboe) - 30 September 2022
  • University of Cincinnati (Ohio) College-Conservatory of Music Chamber Winds (Kevin Michael Holzman, conductor) – 9 February 2020
  • Rowan University (Glassboro, N.J.) Wind Ensemble (Joseph Higgins, conductor; Lia Boncoeur, oboe) – 2 May 2019
  • Texas Tech University (Lubbock) Symphonic Band (Eric Allen, conductor; Amy Anderson, oboe) – 2 May 2019
  • University of Michigan (Ann Arbor) Concert Band (Courtney Snyder, conductor; Nancy Ambrose King, oboe) – 10 February 2016
  • Chamber Players at the University of Cincinnati's College Conservatory of Music – 2015


Works for Winds by This Composer


Resources

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