Hofmann, Leopold (1738-1793)

During the 1760s and early 1770s, the years of his greatest fame and productivity, Hofmann wrote around sixty concertos including several works for two solo instruments. The present work was advertised in Supplement III (1768) of the Breitkopf Catalogue as one of a group of three keyboard concertos by Hofmann. Although the opening Tempo giusto movement is built along the conventional sonata-ritornello principles of the period both the central Andante and Presto finale abandon it in favour of something a little more flexible. Significantly, the single surviving copy - a set of MS performing parts preserved in the Archbishopric Castle Music Library at Kromeriz in the Czech Republic under the shelfmark A 3234 - styles the work 'concertino' which may have been Hofmann's original designation. As the wrapper lists a pair of non-existent horn parts and gives the key incorrectly as F major it is possible - perhaps even probable - that it belongs to another (lost) work by Hofmann. Nonetheless, we have decided to adopt the title 'concertino' for this edition in view of the musical structures employed in all but the first movement. Its wrapper reads: ' Concertino In F/ per il / Clavi Cembalo / Flauto Traversiere } Conc. / 2 Violini / 2 Corni / Basso / Del Sigre Leopold Hofmann '. No horns are listed in the Breitkopf entry. A cadenza is preserved for the third movement. Although its authenticity is suspect it does resemble other cadenzas found in Hofmann's concertos and is included in this edition for the sake of completeness. In the absence of both the autograph score and an authentic set of parts, this edition presents as faithfully as possible the intentions of the composer as transmitted in this source. As is usual in Hofmann's concertos there are no dynamic markings in the solo sections; these are left to the discretion and good taste of the performer. The style and notation of articulation and dynamic markings have been standardised throughout and, where missing from the source, markings have been reconstructed from parallel passages. These are indicated by the use of dotted slurs or brackets. Like most eighteenth-century sources, the present manuscript is inconsistent at in its notation of appoggiature; these too have been standardised to minimise confusion. Obvious wrong notes have been corrected without comment; editorial emendations with no authority from the source are placed within brackets. Allan Badley