Luigi Belloli
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.
Gran Concerto for Horn and Orchestra
Certainly one of the most demanding concertos ever written for horn – though Belloli himself notes numerous ways to ease the difficulty. The manuscript gives 17 June 1816 and Milan as date and place. The dedication on the title page (see image) remains puzzling: the work may originally have been intended for Napoleon. It is also conceivable that Belloli had planned a composition titled “The Battle of Wagram” and later reused the manuscript paper for the horn concerto instead. The concerto is published here in its first printed edition.
The string section of the orchestral material is scored 5/5/4/5.
