The Belloli family of horn players has been almost forgotten today. It included Luigi Belloli, born in 1770 (other sources give 1 February 1769) and died in 1817; his brother Agostino Belloli (1778–1839); Giuseppe Belloli (1775–?); and Luigi's two sons, Giovanni (1794–after 1846) and Giacomo (b. 1795). All of them are documented as horn players in various orchestras across Italy. Compositions by Luigi, Agostino and Giuseppe Belloli have survived to this day.
Luigi Belloli first worked as a horn player in Parma and in 1803 moved to La Scala in Milan as principal horn. Besides his orchestral duties, he also taught at the conservatory there until his death in 1817. His brother Agostino succeeded him in both positions.
Concerto di corno da caccia
Of Agostino Belloli's compositional output, studies for horn, chamber music (including horn quartets) and several concertos have survived. The concerto presented here was written considerably later than that of his brother Luigi. Its lyrical, song-like melodic line is particularly impressive, and it mainly calls for the middle register of the horn.
Listen: Concerto
The string section in the printed edition is scored 5/5/4/4/3.
