Romberg - Cello Concerto No. 8, Op. 48 (Urtext Edition, Piano Version)
Romberg - Cello Concerto No. 8, Op. 48 (Urtext Edition, Orchestra Score)
Romberg - Cello Concerto No. 8, Op. 48 (Urtext Edition, Orchestra Parts)
Bernhard Romberg (1767–1841) was born in Dinklage, Germany, into a musical family. His father, Anton Romberg, played bassoon and cello and gave Bernhard his first cello lessons. By the age of seven, Bernhard was performing publicly. He toured Europe with his cousin, violinist-composer Andreas Romberg, and later joined the Münster Court Orchestra.
In 1790, both cousins entered the court orchestra of the Prince Elector Archbishop of Cologne in Bonn, under Kapellmeister Andrea Luchesi. There, they met the young Beethoven, who admired and respected Bernhard Romberg as a musician.
Romberg introduced several innovations to cello design and performance. He lengthened the fingerboard and flattened the side under the C string for freer vibration, called the “Romberg bevel.” He promoted the use of half- and three-quarter-size cellos for young players and simplified cello notation to three clefs (bass, tenor, and treble), replacing as many as six clefs used by earlier composers such as Luigi Boccherini.
Romberg is best known among cellists for his Three Sonatas for Two Cellos, Op. 43, and Three Trios for Solo Cello, Viola, and Cello, Op. 38, originally composed as student works and later adapted with piano accompaniment by Friedrich Gustav Jansen. Unfortunately, much of Romberg’s music has been categorized as “student” repertoire for over a century, partly due to the highly abbreviated and altered concerto editions by Carl Schroeder and Friedrich Grützmacher. While these adaptations kept the concertos in circulation as teaching material, they also contributed to their dismissal by many musicians. In reality, Romberg’s ten cello concertos rival the best of Mozart’s and Beethoven’s piano concertos in craftsmanship, with well-developed tuttis, elegant orchestration, and melodic inventiveness.
The Cello Concerto No. 8 in A major, published as VIII Grand Concert Brilliant, stands among Romberg’s finest achievements. It is in three movements: a sonata-form first movement, a hybrid sonata/ternary slow movement, and a five-part rondo finale. The orchestration includes flute, two oboes (tacet in the second movement), two bassoons, two horns, and strings. Technically, the concerto bridges the Classical and Romantic eras. Virtuosic passages spanning the range from fourth position to the end of the fingerboard are often executed entirely within a single position, even when this means playing on the C string at the extreme upper register. In lyrical contexts, however, Romberg does not consistently require such positional economy, as might be seen in the previous generation of composers. Nevertheless, there are notable instances in the slow movement where he explicitly directs the soloist to sustain a lyrical line high on the D and G strings.
Concerto No. 8 is dedicated to Romberg’s friend Adolph Meinhardt (1784–1876 or 1785–1875), a distinguished St. Petersburg cellist, member of the Philharmonic Society, principal cellist of the opera orchestra, and teacher at the Court Singing Chapel. His own works include variations on Russian folk songs and larger works for cello.
This edition is based on the autograph parts (Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, shelf mark 16730), which were used to create the first edition published by Tobias Haslinger, Vienna, plate T.H. 5215. The manuscript carries the Italian title 8mo Concerto per il Violoncello con accompagnamento di due violini, flauto, oboe [sic], corni, fagotti, alto et [sic] basso, Opera 48, Composto di [sic] Bernardo Romberg e dedicato al souo [sic] amico il Signor A. Meinhard. The first mention of the Haslinger edition is in the Hofmeister Monatsbericht July/August 1829 issue. In our edition, the Haslinger edition was used for the complete title in French and the punkt-strich distinction, which is occasionally ambiguous in the manuscript. The first French edition (Paris: A. Farrenc, plate A.F. 335) was also consulted but not used as the principal source, as it seems to have been based on the Haslinger. Romberg’s original fingerings and bowings are preserved in the solo part, and all editorial deviations are marked. Ties are understood when 2 or more notes of the same pitch are connected by a single slur. Our edition is the first to present both an unabridged piano reduction (prepared by the editor) and a complete orchestral score.
We extend our gratitude to the Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Sächsische Landesbibliothek – Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Dresden and the Badische Landesbibliothek, Karlsruhe, for granting access to the sources used in preparing this edition.