Graun, Carl Heinrich - Concerto ex D for Horn (Lund 16)

The most extensive source of horn music from the first half of the 18th century is a manuscript collection of the Academic Chapel, now held in the University Library of Lund, Sweden. Many of the composers represented in it were connected in one way or another with the Dresden court. The copyist may well have been a horn player who had visited that city.

List of the Horn Concertos in the Lund Collection

The Wenster collection lists 18 concertos for horn. The numbers follow the original numbering of the collection:

• No. 1 Schultz – Concerto ex Dis for horn, transverse flute, violin and basso → (ROM 018)
• No. 2 Anonymous (Hoffmann) – Concerto ex Dis for horn, 2 oboes and strings → (ROM 013)
• No. 3 Quantz (C. G. Fischer?) – Concerto ex Dis for horn and strings
• No. 4 Anonymous – Concerto ex Dis for horn, 2 oboes and basso → (ROM 019)
• No. 5 Förster – Concerto ex Dis for horn and strings → (ROM 341)
• No. 6 Anonymous – Concerto for horn, oboe d’amore and basso → (ROM 020)
• No. 7 Graun – Concerto ex D for horn, oboe d’amore and basso → (ROM 181)
• No. 8 Graun – Trio ex D for horn, violin and b.c. → (ROM 182)
• No. 9 Quantz – Concerto for horn, oboe and strings → (ROM 021)
• No. 10 Knechtel – Concerto ex D
• No. 11 Knechtel – Concerto ex Dis → (ROM 377)
• No. 12 Förster – Concerto ex Dis
• No. 13 Anonymous (Hampel?) – Concerto ex D for horn and strings → (ROM 184)
• No. 14 Röllig – Concerto ex Dis for horn and strings → (ROM 022)
• No. 15 Röllig – Concerto ex D for horn and strings → (ROM 023)
• No. 16 Graun – Concerto ex D for horn and strings → (ROM 024)
• No. 17a Reinhardt – Concerto ex Dis for horn and strings → (ROM 025)
• No. 17b Gehra – Concerto ex D for horn and strings → (ROM 026)

No. 16: Carl Heinrich Graun (1703–1759)
Concerto ex D major for Corno concertato, 2 Violins, Viola and Basso

Three of the pieces in the collection name a “Sigr. Graun” as their author, unfortunately without the copyist saying whether this is Johann Gottlieb Graun (c. 1702/03–1771) or his younger brother Carl Heinrich (c. 1703/04–1759). Both studied at the Kreuzschule but left the Dresden area after 1730. It is therefore likely that the works in the Lund manuscript are relatively early compositions, written before the composer lost contact with Dresden.

Concerto ex D major, 3rd movement