Antonio Rosetti (1750 – 1792)
- Biography of Antonio Rosetti on french-horn.net (in German)
- List of Rosetti's horn concertos with their different numbering systems (in German)
Concerto for 2 Horns and Orchestra in E-flat major (RWV C57)
Because of its complex sources, the score of this concerto is both a dream and a nightmare for any editor. Five sources exist, but none of them is an autograph or offers clear proof of authenticity. Four sources were used for this edition:
- the only printed edition of a concerto for 2 horns by Rosetti, published by Sieber in Paris around 1786
- a manuscript copy from the Zwierzina/Wallerstein collection (III 4 ½ 2° 433)
- a manuscript copy from Melk Abbey in Austria (IV N 341)
- a manuscript copy from the Mozarteum collection in Salzburg (423c)
All the manuscript copies differ from one another, and the Sieber print is also in E major rather than E-flat major. In preparing the edition, we tried to establish the most probable original version. This approach reached its limits from bar 103 of the third movement onwards, so all four different endings are presented.
The version of the Paris print with a coda ending is also attested for the horn concerto C 49, which survives in autograph. Nevertheless, all variants appear possible, practicable and of equal value, so none of them should be neglected.
All the copies show small peculiarities. The Wallerstein copy, for example, lacks a cadenza in the first movement. The Salzburg copy was made by the horn player Johann Michael Mayr, who adapted the solo part to his own soloistic abilities. The copy from Melk was curiously once attributed to Mozart, although the copyist clearly names Ant. Rosetti as the composer.
The copies also differ in scoring: the Wallerstein copy includes additional oboe parts, and the Melk copy contains a rewritten viola part for the first solo horn.
The popularity of the work is evident from the many surviving copies. However, the concerto does not seem to have been composed for the horn players Nagel and Zwierzina. As early as 1780, the horn players Palsa and Türrschmidt performed a double horn concerto by Rosetti in various cities, including Paris and Leipzig. Rosetti dedicated the horn concerto C 49 to Türrschmidt, and the coda ending of the Paris print mentioned above resembles that concerto in form. The scoring with flutes and the absence of the "second" viola part point to an earlier date of composition, going back to Palsa and Türrschmidt, rather than to the later scoring of the concertos written for Nagel and Zwierzina.
The appendix contains two cadenzas for the first movement, taken from the Melk and Salzburg copies. They make it possible to perform variants from that period on the historically appropriate natural horn.
Orchestral parts: 5/5/4/4, winds, solo
Audio sample
1st movement: Allegro