Hofmann: Flute Concertos, Vol. 1

Description

Leopold Hofmann(1738-1793)Flute Concertos Vol. 1Of all Haydn's Viennese contemporaries Leopold Hofmann was perhaps themost successful and popular composer of concertos. He wrote around sixty soloconcertos during a twenty-year period (ca 1758-1778) for a variety ofinstruments including thirteen for flute. Hofmann's two earliest fluteconcertos cannot be identified and indeed may not survive; they are known onlyfrom their appearance in an inventory of music belonging to the Esterhazyfamily made around 1758. The thirteen extant concertos probably date from the1760s although it is possible that at least a couple of the works were composedduring the 1770s. Since his interest in composing flute concertos is impossibleto reconcile either with his professional duties as a church musician or as aperformer - Hofmann was a fine violinist and keyboard player - it seems likelythat most if not all of the works were composed on commission.Unlike Hofmann's many chamber works for flute which were clearly writtenwith an eye to the large amateur market, his flute concertos may well have beencomposed for professional players. Certainly there is nothing in the structurallayout of the works or in the style of orchestral writing that is in any waydifferent from his other concertos, including those written for his own use.None of the works was published in Hofmann's lifetime although their appearancein contemporary catalogues suggests that they were reasonably well knownoutside Vienna. The survival of the majority of the concertos in a singlecollection - the F??rst Thurn und Taxis'sche Hofbibliothek in Regensburg- argues for some sort of connection between the composer and that particularcourt. Support for this view is strengthened further by the presence of a fluteconcerto score in autograph (G3) - the only extant Hofmann autograph foran instrumental work that we are aware of - which is otherwise completelyunknown. Among the most prominent members of the princely musical establishmentat Regensburg was the celebrated Florentine flautist, Florante Agostinelli. Itwas surely for Agostinelli that the concertos were purchased and it is possiblethat a number of the works - perhaps those for which no other sources orcorroborative catalogue entries exist - were commissioned by him or for him.Hofmann's flute concertos bear a strong familial resemblance to hisother concertos in terms of form, style and structure. Their musical languageis similar too and yet, as in the other works, the highly idiomatic quality ofthe solo writing lends them a very distinctive quality. The flute seemsparticularly well suited to Hofmann's musical language and perhaps hisfascination with the instrument is evidence that he himself recognised thisfact. The instrument's principal strengths are agility and delicacy of tonecolour; it is capable of executing shimmering runs, fast passage work and thedelicate, filigree ornamentation which is such an integral part of Hofmann'sconcerto style. The flute's softne