Joseph Haydn
Concerto D major for Horn (2. Concerto Hob. VIId:4)
Joseph Haydn composed several horn concertos. Two of them are marked in the catalogue of his drafts. The concerto No 1 D major Hob. VIId:3 is handed down by the autograph of Vienna in the library of the „Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde“. Although it is not marked in the drafts catalogue, it is unquestionable by Haydn.
This new edition has been known as No 2 D major Hob. VIId:4 for many years. However, it is not for sure, that Joseph Haydn was the composer. The complete edition of the Joseph-Haydn-Institut in Cologne lists this concerto as the „Apokryphe Bläserkonzerte“.
The situation of the sources for this concerto is quite simple: The catalogue from 1781 Supplementband XIV of the publishing house Breitkopf names the concerto. One copy can be found in the Sächsische Landes- und Universitätsbibliothek (SLUB) Dresden . The title says:
„D # / Concerto / a 5 / Corno Secundo Principale,1 /Violino Primo, 2 e Secundo, 2 / Viola 1 e Basso. 2/ Del Signore Haÿden“
The numbers behind the parts probably mean the original quantity of existing parts. The title is written down at the part of the basso and in the right upper edge, you can read „Spl XIV“.
So the copy refers to the catalogue of Breitkopf. Today, the copy is kept in the collection Zittau Exner of the Chr.-Weise-Bibliothek in Dresden SLUB.
One further copy is kept in the library of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde and reads the year 1767. The editions of E. Mandyczewski by Breitkopf & Härtel 1898 and of H. H. Stevens 1954 by Boosey & Hawkes used this copy.
Concerto D-Dur Hob. VIId:4
These editions contain considerable corrections of the original music. The copy of Zittau has to be differentiated concerning obvious errors and composed inelegance. For example, there is a common start of the first movement in the tutti parts as well as the solo horn, not unusual for those times. The next sign is wrong namely 11 bars tacet, but it has to be 12 bars exactly. There you can see that this copy had never been used for playing.
These obvious errors have been corrected in this new edition. If there are harmonic double meanings, the original was to be kept.
There is another error in bar 92/93: The horn part says c‘ two times, written in the horn bass clef. The bar 91/92 also says c‘, but written in treble clef. Maybe, the copyist didn’t know the horn bass clef and it had to be played the low c.
The appoggiatura is noted like in the source without any slurs. (By the way, the edition of Mandyczewski wrote each appoggiatura as a full note.)
This new edition contains the major correction in the third movement. The horn part starts with a bass tone. In bar 140 the solo part ends and says 40 bars tacet. However, the tutti parts contain accompanying music up to 154/155 where they obviously stop for a cadenza. In former editions, these tutti bars were just cancelled.
However, we could think of an explanation for this inconvenience: The copyist of the source of the Zittauer Library did not find or overlook another page of the horn part. Therefore, the new edition contains a supply of the solo part.
The stylistic features of the concerto do not belong to Haydn, as it was always discussed. We do not know, why the source says 1767. It is for sure that this concerto was composed before 1781. In the catalogue of Breitkopf, there is this concerto by Fischer written just above Haydn. The Fischer concerto is kept in the collection of baroque horn concertos in the Swedish library of Lund (Wenster Lit 1 – 17a). There is a clear reference to the court in Dresden. It was composed between 1720 and 1760. Is it possible that Breitkopf took the concerto of Fischer (today Quantz) from the same source as this concerto of our new edition? It was also usual to attribute Haydn to compositions for promotional purpose. (By the way, it does not say who of the two Haydn brothers.) The new edition also uses Haydn for lack of alternatives.
