Horn Concerto in D Major
Horn solo with 2 oboes and strings (bassoon ad libitum on continuo)
Program Notes by Martin Pearlman
Haydn's horn concerto has survived in only one autograph manuscript, which bears the date 1762. While he may possibly have written it for the first horn player in his orchestra at Esterháza, some scholars have suggested that it may have been for his friend Joseph Leutgeb, for whom Mozart later wrote his four horn concertos. Mozart's concertos, written more than two decades later, require hand stopping to play notes that were not in the natural harmonic series of the valveless horn of the time. At the time of Haydn's concerto, however, hand stopping was not yet a well known technique, and it would have taken a virtuoso like Leutgeb to negotiate several of the passages in this work. Without the stopped notes -- or at least with very few of them -- the outer fast movements have a bright sound, but the beautiful, pulsing, elegant Adagio of the middle movement makes striking use of the lowest notes in the instrument's range. Near the end of the autograph score, where Haydn has made an error and switched the parts of two instruments, he has added the note, "written while asleep."
This concerto is sometimes called Haydn's Horn Concerto No. 1, because of another concerto in D major that is sometimes called Haydn's Horn Concerto No. 2. But the latter work is spurious and has been attributed by scholars to other composers, including possibly to Haydn's brother Michael.
Boston Baroque Performances
Horn Concerto in D Major
August 24, 1989
King Ridge, NH
Martin Pearlman, conductor
Soloist:
Jean Rife, natural horn
February 9, 1988
St. Anselm College, Manchester, NH
Martin Pearlman, conductor
Soloist:
Jean Rife, natural horn
April 4, 1987
Connecticut College, New London, CT
Martin Pearlman, conductor
Soloist:
Jean Rife, natural horn
January 22 & 26, 1986
Northwest Bach Festival, Spokane, WA
Martin Pearlman, conductor
Soloist:
Jean Rife, natural horn
July 28, 1985
De Cordova Museum, Lincoln, MA
Martin Pearlman, conductor
Soloist:
Jean Rife, natural horn
July 25, 1985
King Ridge, NH
Martin Pearlman, conductor
Soloist:
Jean Rife, natural horn
July 21, 1985
Southern Vermont Arts Center, Manchester, VT
Martin Pearlman, conductor
Soloist:
Jean Rife, natural horn
March 5, 1985
Baylor University, Waco, TX
Martin Pearlman, conductor
Soloist:
Jean Rife, natural horn
February 26, 1985
Troy Music Hall, Troy, NY
Martin Pearlman, conductor
Soloist:
Jean Rife, natural horn
February 23, 1985
Palace Civic Center, Jamestown, NY
Martin Pearlman, conductor
Soloist:
Jean Rife, natural horn
February 22, 1985
Olean, NY
Martin Pearlman, conductor
Soloist:
Jean Rife, natural horn
October 24, 1984
American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Cambridge, MA
Martin Pearlman, conductor
Soloist:
Jean Rife, natural horn
October 19, 1984
NEC’s Jordan Hall, Boston, MA
Martin Pearlman, conductor
Soloist:
Jean Rife, natural horn
February 5, 1984
Essex Auditorium, Essex, CT
Martin Pearlman, conductor
Soloist:
Jean Rife, natural horn
January 27, 1984
University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH
Martin Pearlman, conductor
Soloist:
Jean Rife, natural horn
January 22, 1984
Currier Gallery of Art, Manchester, NH
Martin Pearlman, conductor
Soloist:
Jean Rife, natural horn
January 21, 1984
University of Maine, Orono, ME
Martin Pearlman, conductor
Soloist:
Jean Rife, natural horn
September 29, 1983
Unicorn Park, Woburn, MA
Martin Pearlman, conductor
Soloist:
Jean Rife, natural horn
July 17, 1983
De Cordova Museum, Lincoln, MA
Martin Pearlman, conductor
Soloist:
Jean Rife, natural horn
July 10, 1983
Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, IN (Indianapolis Early Music Festival)
Martin Pearlman, conductor
Soloist:
Jean Rife, natural horn
November 3, 1982
State Street Church, Portland, ME (Portland Chamber Music Society)
Martin Pearlman, conductor
Soloist:
Jean Rife, natural horn
November 1, 1982
Bay Chamber Concerts, Rockport, ME
Martin Pearlman, conductor
Soloist:
Jean Rife, natural horn
April 30, 1982
Chandler Music Hall, Randolph, VT
Martin Pearlman, conductor
Soloist:
Jean Rife, natural horn
July 9, 1981
Concert Cruise, Boston Harbor
Martin Pearlman, conductor
Soloist:
Jean Rife, natural horn