Franz Joseph Haydn: Trumpet Concerto in E-flat

Transcription

1 Franz oseph Haydn: Trumpet Concerto in E-flat Haydn wrote his Trumpet Concerto in 1796 for Anton Weidinger, who had developed a keyed trumpet. This trumpet could play notes unavailable to the natural trumpet, which had been in use for hundreds of years. Haydn wrote this concerto to make full use of the new chromatic possibilities offered by Weidinger s trumpet. Haydn s orchestration implies that the solo part should mostly be played with great restraint; there are few forte markings, which are reserved for the tutti sections. The edition presented is derived from Haydn s autograph score, with no editorial additions. The first movement starts with Haydn teasing his audience by bringing the solo trumpet in with loud fanfare figures, only to follow with the main theme later. The movement contains several semiquaver passages. Contrary to many editors suggestions, it is likely that Haydn would have expected very few slurs (other than where he has marked them). Clarino technique employed a wide range of varied tonguing syllables, and commonly used double tonguing. (Haydn titled this concerto for the clarino; this is what the trumpet was often called in the eighteenth century, when composers made extensive use of the trumpet s high harmonics.) The cadenza should be improvised or composed using themes from the movement. Contemporary practice was not to move far away from the tonic key and to restrain the length to something that could be played in one breath. Performers are recommended to study others examples in this and other concertos. However, early editions of this concerto often contain cadenzas which bear little or no relation to the material preceeding it: such practice should be avoided. The second movement is marked Andante. Current scholarship suggests that Haydn expected 6/8 Andantes to move at anything from quaver = 104 to 144; this is considerably faster than has become the norm in performances of this movement. Performers are encouraged to try a flowing speed within this range, and then to understand the music within that tempo. Remembering that it is likely that Haydn expected that the demisemiquavers would all be tongued, gentle double-tonguing will be most helpful to achieve the required effect. Remember, this is not a slow movement. The third movement has similarities with the first, and will probably be taken at a similar tempo. Bear in mind that the series of trills from bar 49-5 would have had to have been lip trills on Weidinger s trumpet - these trills would not have been very rapid. Resist the temptation to overblow in this movement, as in the other movements; reserve the true fortes for the places marked by Haydn. Notes by Brian Moore

2 c Allegro 7 Ó Trumpet Concerto I 4. Haydn Ó 47 b b Ó Ó 54. # # # # n #. 61. w 67 # # # n # w 74 b #. #. 81. w 9 w 97 bn b

3 b b # w bw Ó 16 Ó b b U [Cadenza] 5 - -

4 II b 8 6 Andante 8. 1 b.. #. 16 b b b b n b n b b b b b. b b. b b. b 7 b b. b.. 5 b. # 9 b. 4 b n b. 47 b b. b.

5 FINALE Allegro III #. # M M M M 89 M M M M # N b 98 # r r U

6 14.. b 150 b b 161 f # # 5

7 ḟ p f