Leopold Hofmann (1738-1793)
Flute Concertos Vol. 2
Of all Haydn's Viennese contemporaries Leopold Hofmann
was perhaps the most successful and popular composer of concertos. He wrote
around sixty solo concertos during a twenty year period (ca 1758-1778) for a
variety of instruments including thirteen for flute. Until very recently the
only
Hofmann work to have been recorded was the Flute Concerto
in D (Badley Dl) which for many years was passed off as a work by Joseph
Haydn, The fact that Hofmann's authorship was established as early as 1933 made
little or no difference' Haydn was well known; Hofmann was not. Now that Hofmann's
reputation is a good deal more secure it seems very unlikely that this
situation will continue, particularly in the light of the publication and
recording of the composer's other flute concertos.
Hofmann's two earliest flute concertos cannot be identified
and indeed may not survive; they are known only from their appearance in an
inventory of music belonging to the Esterhazy family made around 1758. The
thirteen extant concertos probably date from the 1760s although it is possible
that at least a couple of works, including D1 and e1, were composed
during the 1770s. Since his interest in composing flute concertos is impossible
to reconcile either with his professional duties as a church musician or as a
performer - Hofmann was a fine violinist and keyboard player - it seems likely
that most if not all of the works were composed on commission, Unlike the
chamber music for flute, which was clearly written with an eye to the amateur
market, Hofmann's flute concertos give every appearance of having been written
for professional players,
The solo parts are technically advanced and the orchestral
writing is as demanding as that found in any of the composer's symphonies. None
of the works was published in Hofmann's lifetime although their regular
appearance in contemporary catalogues suggests that they were reasonably well
known outside Vienna.
The survival of the majority of the concertos in a single
collection - the Furst Thurn und Taxis'sche Hotbibliothek in Regensburg - argues
strongly for some sort of connection between the composer and that particular
court. Support for this view is strengthened further by the presence of a flute
concerto score in autograph (G3) - the only extant Hofmann autograph for
an instrumental work that we are aware of - which is otherwise completely unknown.
Among the most prominent members of the princely musical establishment at Regensburg
was the celebrated Florentine flautist, Florante Agostinelli. It was surely for
Agostinelli that the concertos were purchased and it is possible that a number
of the works -perhaps those for which no other sources or corroborative
catalogue entries exist - were commissioned by him or for him.
Hofmann's flute concertos bear a strong familial resemblance
to his other concertos in terms of form, style and structure. Their musical
language is similar too and yet, as in the other works, the highly idiomatic
quality of the solo writing lends them a very distinctive quality. The flute
seems particularly well suited to Hofmann's musical language and perhaps his
fascination with the instrument is evidence that he himself recognised this
fact. The instrument's principal strengths are agility and delicacy of tone
colour; it is capable of executing shimmering runs, fast passage work and the
delicate, filigree ornamentation which is such an integral part of Hofmann's
concerto style. The flute's softness of tone presents a number of challenges to
the composer and Hofmann takes good care to ensure that the instrument is never
masked by the orchestra even when playing in its low tessitura. The resulting lightness
of style and clarity of texture make these courtly, elegant works perfect
representatives of their time and place.
The four works on this recording are at once typical of
Hofmann's flute concertos and at the same time strongly individual in
character. D3 was advertised for sale in the Breitkopf Catalogue
in 1767; it was probably composed at least a year or two earlier. Although only
two copies of the work survive -one in Regensburg and one Prague – its appearance
in both the Breitkopf Catalogue and the Ringmacher Catalogue (Berlin,
1773) suggests that it circulated fairly widely during the I8th century. The
work's most unusual feature is the Tempo di Menuet finale otherwise unknown in
Hofmann's flute concertos.
A significant number of Hofmann's works survive in a
single source including many of the flute concertos. G3 presents a
unique problem since only the autograph score is extant and there is no
evidence from contemporary thematic catalogues that any other copies ever
existed. What is even more remarkable, however, is that in the archive in which
the autograph is preserved - the Furst Thurn und Taxis'sche Hofbibliothek in
Regensburg - there are no performing parts- While it is possible that these did
exist at some time and have been lost it must remain a possibility, however
remote, that the work was never performed.
As so little autograph material by Hofmann survives it is
impossible to reach any firm conclusions regarding his use of different paper types
- Nonetheless, the papers used in the score of G3 come as something of a
surprise; two types are found: one bearing the watermark of Lauterbach b. Bregenz
(commonly in use during the period ca 1757-1780); the other A. Steinhauser (ca
1757-1798) - The use of these papers points to Hofmann being out of Vienna at
the time he composed G3; he even may have visited Regensburg around this
time and presented - or sold - the autograph score to the court before its
existence was known elsewhere The paper types give no useful clue as to the
work's composition date although the score itself provides one hint- Hofmann
heads the score "Concerto per il flauto Traverso ex g Da Leopoldo Hoffmann
D:S:M:"; the spelling of the composer's surname suggests a relatively
early composition date as he adopted the spelling "Hofmann" around
the late-1760s. It would be safe to conjecture then that the work was probably
written in the early to mid-1760s. Textually, the score is also revealing. Although
it stands absolutely complete in every
detail it shows signs of revision. The second solo in the
first movement, for example, is shortened by several fully-scored sequential
legs before the re-entry of the orchestra in Ritomello 3. Similarly, the finale
originally had provision for a cadenza but the three bars leading up to the cadential
6/4 - and three concluding bars -have been heavily scored out. Hofmann signed
off the score with the dedication P:[?]A: M: D: G1: ("To the Greater Glory
of God") which is also present on an autograph contrafactum part in a
setting of the Salve Regina.
Like the Flute Concertos D2, D5, and G3, all of which
survive in a single copy in Regensburg, D4 was not advertised in the Breitkopf
Catalogue. The possibility exists that all four concertos were acquired by
the Thurn und Taxis court directly from the composer or his agent. A basso ripieno
part - i.e. a part with only the tutti sections written out - is included
in the set (as is also the case with G1 and G4 in this
collection), indisputable evidence that the orchestral forces were frequently
reduced in the solo sections; the soloist was probably accompanied by either a
single player or one desk per part.
The Flute Concerto in E minor is the only
minor-key instrumental work of Hofmann to survive. Advertised in the Breitkopf
Catalogue in 1781 it was probably written some years earlier. Although only
a single copy of the concerto survives, a version in D minor for oboe is
preserved in two other sources; one of these copies once belonged to the oboist
Joseph Triebensee who was employed by the Schwarzenberg family and played with
great success in Vienna. Like many of the composer's other flute concertos, the
sole-surviving copy of e1 is in the possession of the Furst Thurn und
Taxis'sche Hofbibliothek in Regensburg. The horn parts, although effective
enough, are almost certainly spurious. They are a later addition to the set of parts;
they are not mentioned in the Breitkopf
Catalogue; nor do they appear in either of the two
extant versions for oboe. Although the beautiful slow movement of e1 is
part of the expressive landscape familiar to us from the other concertos, the
driving intensity of the finale reveals an entirely different side to Hofmann's
art, one we can only regret he did not pursue further.
Dr, Allan Badley