When selecting an initial concerto for advancing students, teachers often turn to a familiar group of works, including Haydn in C major, Saint-Saëns’s First Concerto, Lalo, or the Boccherini–Grützmacher concerto. In this context, I would like to draw attention to Carl Maria von Weber’s Grand Potpourri, Op. 20. Weber composed this work during his tenure as artistic director of the Hofkapelle Stuttgart. The inscription on the title page reads: “Grand Potpourri pour le Violoncelle composé et dédié à son ami Graff Professeur de Violoncelle au service de S.M. le roi de Würtemberg par Charles Marie B. de Weber Op. 20 1808 in Stuttgard komponirt.”
The Grand Potpourri, in D major, consists of four movements performed without pause. While highly tuneful, it also contains a number of technically demanding passages, including extended octave writing and work in the upper positions, often centered on harmonics. The opening movement serves as a stately introduction, followed by an Andante with variations. Feuermann recorded this movement with piano in an arrangement by Grützmacher. The transition into the third movement provides an opportunity for an improvised cadenza. The third movement presents an expressive Adagio with a Fandango middle section that, while virtuosic, remains idiomatic for the instrument. The finale draws on Therese’s aria from Franz Danzi’s Das Quasi-mann.
Several recordings of the Grand Potpourri are available, including those by Raphael Wallfisch, Natalia Gutman, Thomas Blees, Anner Bylsma, and Martin Ostertag. Although the work has not achieved the same level of popularity as Weber’s clarinet concertos, it shares their operatic character.
The number of available editions is limited. The Eulenburg edition (Schott) publishes the orchestral score, edited by Franz Beyer, with a companion piano reduction issued by Kunzelmann. While the Beyer edition presents itself as scholarly, comparison with the manuscript reveals a number of discrepancies in pitch, rhythm, articulation, clefs, accidentals, and dynamics. It appears to rely primarily on the first edition set of parts rather than incorporating manuscript sources. A more heavily edited Simrock edition is also extant. A Grützmacher edition—used by Feuermann in his recording—was formerly available but is now out of print.
YL Edition felt the need to make a faithful edition according to the manuscript. We hope that our edition will make this work more popular among students and professionals alike. You may purchase your copy of the Grand Potpourri here.