The Trumpet Concerto (Haydn)

Franz Joseph Haydn

Anton Weidinger

Title: Trumpet Concerto in E flat major

Composer: Franz Joseph Haydn

Composed in 1796

First performed by Anton Weidinger

The Concerto was written in 1796 for a Viennese trumpeter and his long-time friend Anton Weidinger, the developer of the keyed trumpet.

Anton Weidinger developed a keyed trumpet which could play chromatically throughout its entire range. Before this, the trumpet was valveless and could only play a limited range of harmonic notes by altering the vibration of the lips; also called by the name of natural trumpet. Most of these harmonic notes were clustered in the higher registers, so previous trumpet concertos could only play melodically with the high register (e.g., Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 2). Haydn's concerto includes melodies in the middle and lower register, exploiting the capabilities of the new instrument.

There were attempts all over Europe around the mid-classical era to expand the range of the trumpet using valves, but Weidinger's idea of drilling holes and covering them with flute-like keys was not a success as it had very poor sound quality. Thus the natural trumpet still had continual use in the classical orchestra while the keyed trumpet had barely any repertoire. The valved trumpets used today were first constructed and used in the 1830s.

After the first performances by Weidinger, the concerto was forgotten. In the late 1800 it was rediscovered.Paul Handke (who moved to USA and was trumpeter with Chicago Symphony Orchestra), wrote down the solo trumpet part from the original Haydn manuscript in 1899. In 1908, Professor Franz Rossbach, Solo-Trumpet with the Wien Philharmonik performed it again in Vienna. 

Then in March 1914, Eduard Seifert (1870-1965), Solo-Trumpet with the Dresdner Staatskapelle  performed the concerto in Dresden. Seifert copied the manuscript from Rossbach. The first time that the Concerto was heard in England was 30 March 1932. The performance was a BBC broadcast and the trumpeter was Ernest Hall. 

Thursday night, June 23, 1938, Haydn’s Trumpet Concerto was again broadcasted by the BBC. Soloist was the English trumpeter George Eskdale. He played the second and third part, (Andante and Allegro). This broadcast was later made into a 78 rpm phonograph by Columbia Records (Col. 70106-D). It is believed to be the first recording of the Haydn Trumpet Concerto.

Music

Instrumental

• Solo Trumpet
• 2 flutes
• 2 oboes
• 2 bassoons
• 2 horns
• 2 (presumably natural) trumpets
• timpani
• I & II Violins
• Violas
• Cellos
• Double Basses

Form

This concerto is in 3 movements:

I.    Allegro (sonata)

II.   Andante (sonata)

III.  Allegro (rondo)

Haydn Trumpet Concerto (Full Movement) video:

Haydn Trumpet Concerto (Full Score) pdf file:

http://javanese.imslp.info/files/imglnks/usimg/3/3e/IMSLP03256-Haydn_-_Trumpet_Concerto__Full_Score_-_one_page_per_image_.pdf