Vanhal Concerto in C major Bassoon and piano

The Concerto in C survives as an undated manuscript in the Landesbibliotek Mecklenburg-Vorpomern. The material comprises nine separate parts: fagotto principale, violino primo, violino secondo, viola (the copyist gives alto viola), basso, oboe prima, oboe seconda, corno primo and corno secondo. With the exception of the first violin part all the parts appear to be in the same hand. No full score has survived.

The origins of the Concerto in C are uncertain. Nothing is known of the first or subsequent performances of the work, although the virtuoso bassoonist and composer Franz Anton Pfeiffer (1752-1787) is named along with a Wilhem Berwald as having been one of its copyists.

In style this Concerto in C appears to be a little later than its companion in F (Emerson Edition E668) and probably dates from the early 1780s. Whereas the F major shows clear Italianate origins, (Vanhal spent more than two years studying in Rome), the C major is Viennese in character. The thematic material of the rondo finale, for example, strongly suggests the influence of Haydn.

A full score (E693S) and set of orchestral parts (E693P) are also published by Emerson Edition and available for sale via June Emerson Wind Music.