Hofmann, Leopold (1738-1793)

The present work was advertised in Supplement IV (1769) of the Breitkopf Catalogue but was written, in all likelihood, a year or two earlier. Two sets of parts survive - one in the Frst Thurn und Taxis Hofbibliothek in Regensburg (Hofmann 15) and the other in the great Benedictine Monastery at Kremsmnster - although its listing in Breitkopf and in the slighter later Ringmacher Catalogue suggests that the concerto circulated fairly widely during Hofmann's lifetime. The Kremsmnster copy, upon which which this edition is partly based, survives without a wrapper and omits the horn parts but otherwise agrees closely in detail with the Regensburg MS. The solo part is signed "G.B." (unidentified). The wrapper for the Regensburg source reads: " Concerto / a / traverso principale / con / due Violini / due Corni / Viola / e / Basso / Del Sigre Leopoldo Hoffmann ". 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 the two sources. 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 manuscripts are inconsistent in their 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