Concertino in G

A near contemporary and rival of Haydn, Leopold Hofmann was held in the highest regard in his native Vienna where he served as Kapellmeister at St Stephen’s Cathedral, a position to which Mozart might have succeeded had he lived. Hofmann was a prolific composer of instrumental music and his solo concertos, of which there are nearly sixty for various instruments, are among the finest written in Vienna during the mid-18th century. The present work was advertised in Supplement III (1768) of the Breitkopf Catalogue as one of a group of three keyboard concertos by Hofmann. Although the opening Tempo giusto movement is built along the conventional sonata-ritornello principles of the period both the central Andante and Presto finale abandon it in favour of something a little more flexible. Significantly, the single surviving copy - a set of MS performing parts preserved in the Archbishopric Castle Music Library at Kromeriz in the Czech Republic - styles the work ‘concertino’ which may have been Hofmann’s original designation. A cadenza is preserved for the third movement. Although its authenticity is suspect it is included in this edition for the sake of completeness.