Luogo e data di registrazione		Centre in the Square, Kitchener (Canada) - 20/23 January 1991
	Registrazione: live / studio		studio
	Producer / Recording supervisor		Wolf Erichson
	Recording Engineers		Stephan Schellmann, Andreas Neubronner (Tritonus)
	Editing		Andreas Lemke, Stephan Schellmann (Tritonus)
	Prima Edizione LP		-
	Prima Edizione CD		Sony / Vivarte - SK 48 045 - (1 CD) - durata 77' 00" - (p) 1992 - DDD
	Cover Art		Kurfürst Karl theodor von der Pfalz by Georg Ziesenis (1716-1776) - Kurpfälzisches Museum, Heidelberg
	Note		-

The flute concertos by Johann and Carl Stamitz, Franz Xaver Richter and Haydn/Hofmann can be situated between 1740 and 1780. This period was without any doubt the golden age of the transverse flute. This instrument emerged in its baroque form in France towards the end of the 17'th century and reached a high level of perfection around 1720 through the innovative exertions of some ingenious instrument makers and a  multitude of fanatical flute virtuosi. Frederick the Great, who was said to play the flute more like a musician than a Sovereign, indirectly fed the enthusiasm for the instrument on the continent. In the Mannheim circle, to which three of the flute concertos on this recording are directly related, it was the flautist and composer Johann Baptist Wendling (1723-1797) whose skill inspired many other composers to write for this instrument. Wendling was one of the best flautists of his time, and he performed his art from the first Mannheim generation (Johann Stamitz and Franz Xaver Richter) down to Mozart's time. Mozart expressed his esteem for him and orchestrated one of Wendling's flute concertos during his stay in Mannheim in 1777. Wendling gave several concerts in Vienna and it cannot be ruled out that Haydn, Hofmann and Gluck should also have met him on these occasions. The prince elector Karl Theodor was also a flute player, and it was during his reign, between 1743-1777, that the flourishing Mannheim court chapel had no fewer than 55 musicians in its service. Of these, some had originally played in the older court chapel in Düsseldorf and Innsbruck, whereas others came from the Netherlands and Italy. However, it was not the diversity of the musicians but to the influence of Johann Stamitz and of his sons Johann Anton and Carl, that the spectacular fame of the chapel was due. Johann Christian Cannabich (1731-1798) also played an important role in this phenomenon. Johann Stamitz had a natural talent and a suggestive authority which greatly helped him to achieve firm discipline in the orchestra. However, he was not only a good conductor but also a brilliant composer who left us a great number of symphonies and some concertos. With the compositions of the Stamitz family however, it is not always clear which of the family members was the author, as it was not common in the 18th century for composers to indicate their first name on the manuscripts. At least five composers signed with the name “Stamitz” and it is sometimes difficult to decide which concertos are by Johann and which by Carl. With these precautions in mind, we count among the works of Johann Stamitz eleven flute concertos, one concerto for oboe, and one for the clarinet which is one of the earliest solo concertos written for this instrument. The enthusiastic comment of the English composer and music historian Charles Burney certainly includes Johann Stamitz's flute concertos: “He, like another Shakespeare, broke through all difficulties and discouragements; and as the eye of one pervaded all nature, the other, without quitting nature, pushed art further than any one had done before him; his genius was truly original, bold, and nervous; invention, fire, and contrast, in the quick movements; a tender, graceful and insinuating melody, in the slow; together with the ingenuity and richness of the accompaniments, characterise his productions; all replete with great effects, produced by an enthusiasrn of Genius, refined, but not repressed by cultivation.” Franz Xaver Richter, who like Johann Stamitz was of Bohemian descent, is the oldest of the composers included on this recording. It is not certain whether Richter studied in Vienna, but in any case Fux`s Gradus ad Parnassum was on his program of study. Besides being a composer, Richter was also a professional singer. From 1747 onwards he actively participated in the music life of Mannheim, keeping a distance, however, from the fashionable style of composition, preferring the more contrapuntal Viennese musical idiom. He often used simple motivic work and uncomplicated imitations to treat his musical ideas. The stable thematics of the orchestral tutti contrasts with the more embellished flute part without really interacting with it. Here one encounters clarity of texture and form, but one feels no rule-breaking power, and no awareness of new expressive horizons (Sturm und Drang, pre-Romanticism). Burney highly estimated Richter and praised his inventive baroque melody, though he reproached him on the other hand the excessive use of sequences: “Mr Franz Xaver Richter should be distinguished among the musicians of Mannheim; his works of various kinds have great merit; his subjects are often new and noble; but his details and manner of treating them is frequently dry and sterile; and he spins and repeats passages in different keys without end...” Carl (Philipp) Stamitz was the son of Johann Stamitz. He played the violin and the viola as well as the viola damore. He was a prominent member of the Mannheim school`s second generation of musicians. After his father's death, which came when he was only eleven years old, he continued his music studies under Franz Xaver Richter, Ignaz Holzbauer and Christian Cannabich. In 1770 he resigned from the Mannheim orchestra and moved to Paris, where he took service with the Duc de Noailles. Through this position, he became acquainted with Gossec, Leduc, Sieber and Beer. Between 1771 and 1773 his name was mentioned in the Mercure de France among the performers of the “concerts spirituels.” He also made extensive concert tours all over Europe, and encouraged by the success of his performances and compositions he decided to settle as an independent artist; but just as in Mozart's case, he was to experience by the end of his life that conditions prevalent in this period made it very difficult for artists to attain such a social status. Consequently he left behind a considerable amount of debt. As a composer he essentially remained loyal to the Mannheim style, though he enriched it with influences from Paris, London and Vienna. He also composed many works for wind players among which are counted at least seven flute concertos. His flute concerto in G major, which was published as his opus 17 in 1779, amply demonstrates his craftsmanship: good and appealing musical themes, clear structure, with an expressive but simple harmony so as to retain transparency. The flute part aims less at virtuosity than in his father's concertos, so that the composition as a whole makes a stronger impression. The Andante exemplifies once more the melodious ideal of the Mannheim school. In this regard, Johann Adam Hiller wrote in 1781 “Style in music means the art of composing a melody. With harmony one can not speak of style, because harmony alone, without a melody has but little expressive power or character.” The authorship of “Joseph Haydn's” flute concerto in D major was in doubt for a long time: we know the work through three manuscript sources of which one bears Haydn's name; the others claim Hofmann as the author. The Breitkopf Catalogue mentions the work in 1771 and 1786 as a concerto by Haydn but in 1781 the same work was sold as a work by Hofmann. The Ringmacher catalogue shows this concerto as Hofmann's composition in 1773. However, in comparison to Hofmann's other flute concertos this concerto is of such superior quality that there remains a serious doubt about his authorship. Leopold Hofmann was only six years younger than Haydn and worked for most of his life in Vienna. He was a highly accomplished organist and violinist. Already at the age of twenty his name was mentioned in the list of professional musicians associated with St Michael's in Vienna. By 1764 he was choir director of St Peter's and in 1768 records list him as Kapellmeister there. In 1769 he succeeded Wagenseil as Hofklaviermeister,  in which function he also instructed the children of the imperial family. During his life Hofmann was very well known; Charles Burney included him in his works, for instance, and in 1768 J. A. Hiller wrote, “The concertos of Herr Hofmann in Vienna are better put together, are well conceived and with pleasant melodies; also his harmonic structure is better than with many other new composers... (J.A. Hiller, Wöchentliche Nachrichten und Anmerkungen, die Musik betreffend). The Wíener Diarium of 1766 puts him on the same artistic level as Gluck and Haydn, and attributes to him the development of a new style based on that of the Mannheim school. After having praised a serious oratorio the author states: “But serious though this style is, he is in an equal degree pleasant and attractive in his symphonies, concertos, quartets and trios. One may say that Hofmann, after Stamitz, is the only one to give to the transverse flute the proper lightness and melody.” Haydn envied his success and could hardly stand him. Once he described him as a conceited wag,“who believes he alone has achieved Parnassus, and who seeks to undercut me in all matters...” The Dance of the Blessed Spirits is the name of the ballet in the second scene of the second act of Christoph Willibald Gluck`s opera Orpheus and Eurydice. The work consists of three parts: the outer parts, which are written in an appeasing 3/4 measure, use two flutes and string orchestra, whereas the central part is assigned to one solo flute and the string orchestra (1774 Paris version). Gluck avoids exagerated embellishments and concentrates fully on the expressiveness of the intervals. This piece is a unique representation of the Elysian Fields; the French organist and composer Gabriel Pierné once called it “the first creation of a truly musical atmosphere”. © 1992 Jan De Winne