Joseph Fiala
Concerto ex Dis for Horn or English Horn and Orchestra
Joseph Fiala was born in 1748 in Lochowitz (Lochovice) in Bohemia. After his training in Prague on the oboe and cello, he came to Wallerstein in southern Germany in 1774, where he worked until 1777 as an oboist for the Prince of Oettingen-Wallerstein. He then went to Munich and, somewhat later, to Salzburg to join the Archbishop's court orchestra. From around 1783, he no longer played the oboe for health reasons, but turned instead to the viola da gamba and the cello. In 1785 he moved to Vienna, before travelling on to Russia some time later to build up a court orchestra for Count Orlov-Chesmensky. From 1792 until his death in 1816, he worked at the court of the Prince of Fürstenberg in Donaueschingen.
The copies come from the archive of Count Clam-Gallas, which is preserved in Prague today. Only the horn is listed as the solo instrument in the title; the copy, however, includes a separate part labelled "Talie prinzipale". The instruments referred to as Talie – more correctly Taille (de Hautbois) – are tenor oboes pitched in F. They remained in use until the end of the 18th century, and Fiala was one of the last composers to write for them. Whether Fiala is truly the composer of this work remains unclear, as its musical style cannot be attributed to him with certainty. A concerto for two horns by Fiala has survived. There is also a reference to a concerto for horn on a surviving concert programme from a Liebhaber-Concert of the court orchestra of the Prince of Oettingen-Wallerstein, dated 2 March 1786.
Unfortunately, there is no explanation for the extremely high range of the solo horn part, though this concerto is not an isolated case in that respect. A performance will therefore in most cases be given on the English horn. In addition, a Corno da caccia part in B♭ has been edited.
This edition is a joint publication of Robert Ostermeyer Musikedition and befoco music (www.befoco.de – bfc122).
You can find out more about Joseph Fiala at french-horn.net
