Parthia in F “pour la chasse”, RWV B21 for 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 3 horns, 2 bassoons and violone
This Parthia by Rosetti is published as part of the series Oetting-Wallerstein Harmoniemusik. The scoring with three horns is documented in several wind partitas of the Wallerstein court music. In 1783, Joseph Reicha composed a Parthia in F and a Parthia in D with three horns. The Wallerstein cellist Paul Wineberger, who from 1785 headed the court hunting music, wrote a Parthia in F as well as two works (Parthia in chasse and Parthia in F) that were even scored for four horns. What all these works have in common is a clear musical and thematic connection to motifs of the hunt.
Rosetti's work was composed in Wallerstein in September 1785. The title page bears the annotation “pour la chasse” in its upper right corner. This edition is based on Rosetti's autograph score (shelfmark III 4 1/2 4° 284, held by the University Library of Augsburg). The autograph is remarkably detailed and extensive in its notation, as was also found in Reicha's Parthias. Copies of Rosetti's works by various copyists have, it seems, unfortunately not retained these highly interesting markings.
In this Parthia, as in some of the works mentioned above, the third horn is a wanderer between worlds: it covers the low register but must also master high solo passages.
