Hofmann, Leopold (1738-1793)

The present work is the last of Hofmann's cello concertos to appear in the Breitkopf Catalogue (Supplement X 1775) and is in all probability, excepting lost works, the last he wrote. Like the earlier Concerto in C (Badley C1), with which it shares certain common technical and musical features, this work gives every appearance of having been written for a virtuoso of the first order. It is conceived on a larger scale than the other concertos and makes formidable demands on the soloist particularly in its extensive exploitation of the extreme high tessitura of the instrument. As is so often the case with eighteenth-century virtuoso concertos the work survives in only a single copy, in this instance, one which formerly belonged to Friedrich Wilhelm II, the cello-playing King of Prussia, who owned copies of most of Hofmann's concertos for the instrument. The title page reads " Concerto / /Violoncello obligato. / Violino Primo / Violino Secondo / Due Corni / Viola / e / Basso / Del Sigr Leopoldo Hoffmann ".

In the absence of the autograph score or an authentic set of parts this edition presents as faithfully as possible the composer's intentions as transmitted in the Berlin 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 standardized throughout, and, where missing from the source, reconstructed from parallel passages. These are indicated by the use of dotted slurs or brackets. Like most eighteenth-century sources, the present manuscript is very inconsistent in its notation of appoggiature ; these too have been standardized to minimize confusion. Obvious wrong notes have been corrected without comment; editorial emendations with no authority from the source are placed within brackets. Allan Badley