Franz Anton Hoffmeister (1754 – 1812)
Arrival and Farewell Parthia
for 2 Clarinets, 2 Horns and 2 Bassoons
This extensive wind parthia in nine movements, now held at the Landesbibliothek Mecklenburg-Vorpommern in Schwerin, survives in a manuscript copy made by the clarinettist Raymund Griessbacher (c. 1752 – 1818). From 1776 to 1778 Griessbacher played in the Esterházy court orchestra under Joseph Haydn. He and his brother Anton were esteemed clarinet virtuosos; Raymund later made clarinets and basset horns, some of which survive to this day.
In the opening movement the 1st clarinet begins alone, and the other instruments join in one by one. Johannes Sperger (1750 – 1812) wrote a similarly conceived arrival symphony around 1785. In the final movement, a retirade, the instruments leave one after another until only the 1st clarinet remains. The model is clearly Haydn's Farewell Symphony (Hob. I:45). An identical gavotte movement appears in a wind octet for 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 horns and 2 bassoons (Hob. II:Es13), which was probably misattributed to Haydn.
Judging by its compositional style, its probable place of origin (Vienna) and its presumed date, the work can be attributed to Franz Anton Hoffmeister. The National Library in Prague holds another copy, titled “Sestetto” and marked “del Sign. Hofmeister”. In this version the first and ninth movements are about 200 bars shorter.
A CD recording by the Consortium classicum with Dieter Klöcker unfortunately includes only four of the nine movements, with cuts as well as very free additions and alterations.
The work is published here for the first time.
Audio sample
1st movement: Arrival – Allegro