The Concertino for Horn and Orchestra in

E minor E minor is a minor scale based on E, consisting of the pitches E, F, G, A, B, C, and D. Its key signature has one sharp. Its relative major is G major and its parallel major is E major. The E natural minor scale is: : Changes nee ...

, J188 ( Op. 45), was composed in 1806 for the Karlsruhe player Dautrevaux, and revised for the Munich virtuoso Rauch in 1815 (completed on 31 August) by

Carl Maria von Weber Carl Maria Friedrich Ernst von Weber (18 or 19 November 17865 June 1826) was a German composer, conductor, virtuoso pianist, guitarist, and critic who was one of the first significant composers of the Romantic era. Best known for his operas, ...

. It is an extremely taxing work, whether played on the

natural horn The natural horn is a musical instrument that is the predecessor to the modern-day (French) horn (differentiated by its lack of valves). Throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth century the natural horn evolved as a separation from the trump ...

for which it was written, or on the modern valve horn. The soloist is accompanied by a small orchestra. It requires, among other feats, that the player produce what is in effect a four-note chord using the interplay between humming and the sound from the instrument, a technique known as

multiphonics A multiphonic is an extended technique on a monophonic musical instrument (one that generally produces only one note at a time) in which several notes are produced at once. This includes wind, reed, and brass instruments, as well as the human voic ...

. The work is widely recorded and performed, appearing in the repertoire of well-known horn players including

Hermann Baumann Hermann Baumann may refer to: * Hermann Baumann (social anthropologist) (1902–1972), German Africa expert * Hermann Baumann (musician) (1934–2023), German horn player, teacher and composer *Hermann Baumann (wrestler) Hermann Baumann (born 23 ...

, Barry Tuckwell and David Pyatt. It was originally written for the

, and the authentic performance movement still sees it played on this instrument; for example, by Anthony Halstead with the

Hanover Band The Hanover Band is a British orchestra specialised in historically informed performance, founded by its artistic director, Caroline Brown. The group's website explains the name thus: '' 'Hanover' signifies the Hanoverian period 1714-1830 and ' ...

Instrumentation

The Concertino is scored for a small orchestra of 1 flute, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, 2

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standar ...

timpani Timpani (; ) or kettledrums (also informally called timps) are musical instruments in the percussion family. A type of drum categorised as a hemispherical drum, they consist of a membrane called a head stretched over a large bowl traditiona ...

and strings.

Structure

The form is loosely constructed and can be described as (slow) introduction, (andante) theme, variations, recitative,

polonaise The polonaise (, ; pl, polonez ) is a dance of Polish origin, one of the five Polish national dances in time. Its name is French for "Polish" adjective feminine/"Polish woman"/"girl". The original Polish name of the dance is Chodzony, mean ...

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Concertino for Horn and orchestra (Weber) Compositions by Carl Maria von Weber Weber 1815 compositions Weber

Instrumentation

Structure

References

Further reading

External links