Konzert G-Moll [Wotquenne Nr. 6] für Cembalo (Klavier) und Streicher by Carl Phil. Em.Bach; Fritz Oberdörffer; Konzert F-Dur [Wotquenne Nr. 33] für Cembalo (Klavier) undStreicher by Carl Phil. Em. Bach; Fritz OberdörfferReview by: Richard S. HillNotes, Second Series, Vol. 10, No. 3 (Jun., 1953), pp. 484-485Published by: Music Library AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/892206 .

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It is evident that the editors had in mind adapting this work to the level of the present-day school and college player's and listener's level, as they see it on the basis of their own copious experience. The fault lies with the pub- lisher who did not indicate that the text had been changed beyond just "edit- ing." As it stands, the piece is still a charming concerto which should be known to all music-minded trumpeters. But they should also be aware that these goings-on are not all from the head and npn nf Father Mon-zrt C. P. E. Bach: Konzert Nr. 1, B-dur. Fur Oboe, Streichorchester mit Cembalo (Klavier). Zum ersten Mal auf Grund des Urtextes hrsg. von Richard Lausch- mann. Bad-Godesberg: Robert Forberg [U. S. agent: C. F. Peters Corp., New York], 1952. [Oboe-piano score, 24 p., and part, 15 p.; $3.00]

In the late nineteen-twenties the Leip- zig firm of Merseburger approached the problem of publishing music, destined by its nature to a very limited sale, in a novel and interesting manner. By organ- izing trade societies of orchestral in- struments, such as double bass players and oboists, and publishing a little paper for them, it created a body whioh guar- anteed a minimum siale by subscription, sufficient to warrant publioation. A trivial Concerto by J. Chr. Schwenke and some undistinguished "contemporary" works represented the output of the "Oboistenbund," when, in 1932, it an- nounced the projected publication of the two oboe concertos of C. P. E. Bach. By 1933 the Nazis came and the Merse- burger firm closed shop. The Bach con- certos were never published. We are therefore very grateful to the firm of Forberg and its distributor, C. F. Peters Corp., for enabling us, twenty years later, to acquaint ourselves with at least one of these concertos. We must also com- mend the editor, Mr. R. Lauschmann, for giving us the original reading along with his highly ornamented version, a procedure which he, unfortunately, did not follow in his earlier edition of the very important Marcello Concerto.

The Concerto will pose a problem to many nerformers. who will take excen-

tion to Mr. Lauschmann's version while finding Bach's original too bland. Bach never intended his notes to be played verbatim and fortunately for us he has left a detailed discussion about the man- ner of performance of his works. Any serious-minded player can therefore work out his own version. Mr. Lauschmann's, it must be added, is a valid and serious interpretation, suffering only from the in- herent paradox of being printed, and therefore fixed and static, when it should be improvised and spontaneous.

The Concerto, containing a good half- hour of fine music, is the largest work for oboe ever published. It should be in every collection which includes music for winds. We can only hope that the success of this publication will enable the publishers to issue the 2nd Concerto in Eb major soon in as attractive an edition as this onnp. TOSE MARX

Carl Phil. Em. Bach: Konzert G-Moll [Wotquenne Nr. 6] fiir Cembalo (Kla- vier) und Streicher. Herausgegeben von Fritz Oberdorffer. Kassel und Basel: Barenreiter Verlag, 1952. [Score, 51 p., DM 7.50; string parts, DM 1.50 each] Carl Phil. Em. Bach: Konzert F-Dur [Wotquenne Nr. 33] fur Cembalo (Kla- vier) und Streicher. Herausgegeben von Fritz Oberdorffer. Kassel und Basel: Barenreiter Verlag, 1952. [Score, 51 p., DM 7.50; string parts, DM 1.50 each]

It should surprise no one that Carl Phillip wrote at least 37 of his more than 50 harpsichord concertos during the period when he served as harpsichordist and composer at the court of Potsdam. Considering that the form was one of his favorites, however, it seems very strange indeed that only three of them (Nos. 11, 14, and 25) appeared in print until, at his own expense, he published six of the last ones at Hamburg in 1772. This scarcity of published concertos has con- tinued right down to the present. A few of them have appeared from time to time, but had it not been for Hugo Riemann and the Steingraber Edition we would still not have enough of them in print to know what Bach had done with the form. These two new publications are therefore a11 the more welenome Per-

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haps neither of them is as striking a work of genius as some of those in the Sei Concerti per il Cembalo concertato of 1772, and certainly they do not even come close to the astounding concerto for two harpsichord-s in F major, which Wotquenn*e assigns the same date as the present G minor concerto, No. 6. Never- theless, both concertos are very pleasant musical compositions, and since the first was written in 1740 ;and the second in 1755, they help to document two sharply differentiated styles. Professor Ober- diirffer's brief introductory notes are given in German and in lan English trans- lation that sets a new low for garbling; bu,t in all other respects Barenreiter has done a fine job in producing the works, printing them on a strong, white paper, vastly superior to that used for many recent German editions.

Both editions are based on manu- scripts which Professor Oberdorffer copied before the war at the State Library in Berlin. One of the manuscripts used for No. 33 (Mus. Ms. Bach St. 538) had numbers in the figured bass which had been added by Bach himself. Presum- ably in the process he would have checked the notes also, and thus this published version is as authoritative as we are ever likely to get. Unfortunately, the same can not be said for No. 6. Professor Oberdorffer had access only to a set of manuscript parts "die nur teil- weise und nicht sehr geniau beziffert waren." As it happens, the Library of Congress has quite a large collection of early manuscript copies of these con- certos, several of them unrecorded in Wotquenne. Although No. 33 is missing, there is a set of parts for No. 6. Like so -many early copies, the readings are not impeccable, and when there is a difference between the manuscript and Professor Oberdorffer's text, the printed text more often than not would be pre- ferred. The bass, however, is fully figured, and there is at least one variant which might be reliable, and if reliable, it is important. The two violins and viola h-ave a characteristic modulating passage at measures 12-19 and again at 22-29, and this same idea appears twice

the figured bass part has a long rest. The fact that the violoncello and bass are also silent at these points suggests that Bach intended the music to be left to the higher strings for the sake of con- trast. It is true that the harmonies are not too thoroughly filled out when this is done, but the progressions are clear enough, and in any case Bach was never one to underline a modulation with a handful of notes. Since we are not likely to have another edition of the concerto very soon, it seems a little unfortunate that Professor Oberdorffer did not exam- ine the Library of Congress manuscript, if only to see whether any of its variant readings seemed acceptable to him.

RICHARD S. HiLL

Howard Hanson: Concerto for Piano and Orchestra, Op. 36. Rochester, N. Y.: Eastman School of Music [Sole agent: Carl Fischer, New York], 1952. [2-piano score, 56 p.; set of 2 copies, $5.00]

The Hanson Piano Concerto is in four movements, following the traditional sequence rather closely: Allegro decisoc p,receded by a Lento introduction, Al- legro molto ritmico, Andante molto es- pressivo, Allegro gwocoso. The move- ments are thematically interrelated, though without rigor. The general layout is simple and clear; the melodic idiom is "modal" as the saying goes, pre- dominantly diatonic, and often penta- tonic. There are plenty of lively un- -complicated syncopated rhythms in the rapid sections. The general emotional flavor is bland and brisk. The Con- certo bears the imprint of the composer's well-known personality; it is an agree- able, readily acceptable, if not remark- able work.

Nevertheless it is doubtful whether, despite these virtues, it will arouse the enterprise of many pianists. It shows a deficiency of pianistic resource and inter- est. The entire work contains hardly 80 measures in which the left hand has 'anything better to do than to double the right in octaves. Scarcely any of the enormous polyphonic and figurational capacites of the keyboard are called into requisition.

All this is th echaraeprkis nf a coTm-

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