Saint-Georges, Joseph Bologne de (1745-1799)

The present work was issued in Paris by Sieber ca 1777 as 'Deuxieme Concerto a Violon Principal' and thus belongs to the most productive period of Saint Georges's career both as a composer and violin virtuoso. The work was probably composed for performance with the Concert des Amateurs. Unusually, Sieber issued the work as a singleton which may account for the lack of opus number. The concerto shares its slow movement with that of the Violin Concerto in A, Op.5 No.2. It is uncertain which work has primacy although the unexceptional provenance of the Op.5 concertos suggests that it rather than the present work represents original source. The two versions differ only slightly in detail, most of which can be attributed to careless engraving. The title page of the Sieber edition reads: Deuxime CONCERTO / A Violon Principal / Premier et Second Violon Alto et Basse / Deux Hautbois Deux Cors / Composs / par / Mr De St Georges - / A PARIS / Chez le Sr. Sieber - This edition is based on a copy of the Sieber print now preserved in the Bibliothque de l'Arsenal in Paris under the call sign M 4385a. The print is for the most part reasonably accurate although there are the usual instances of careless engraving particularly in regard to consistent marking and placement of dynamics and articulations. 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 Sieber's print. The style and notation of articulation and dynamic markings have been standardised throughout, and, where missing, markings have been reconstructed from parallel passages. These are indicated by the use of dotted slurs or brackets where appropriate. Like most eighteenth-century sources, the Sieber print is inconsistent at times 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