Servais - Cello Concerto in B minor, Op. 5 (Urtext Edition, Piano Version)
Servais composed three concertos for the cello and orchestra as well as a Morceau de Concert, a one-movement concert piece. The Concerto in B minor, Op. 5 was the first work in the genre, composed c. 1836. The Concerto was dedicated to King William II (Guillaume II) of the Netherlands. While other works were dedicated to William II, his son William
Servais composed three concertos for the cello and orchestra as well as a Morceau de Concert, a one-movement concert piece. The Concerto in B minor, Op. 5 was the first work in the genre, composed c. 1836. The Concerto was dedicated to King William II (Guillaume II) of the Netherlands. While other works were dedicated to William II, his son William III received many more dedications such as David Popper’s Polonaise Op. 14, Henri Vieuxtemps’s Cello Concerto No. 1, and Amboise Thomas’s opera Le songe d'une nuit d'été.
Servais’s B-minor Concerto consists of three movements. The outer movements are in sonata form, although the recapitulation of the first movement is truncated after the orchestral return of the first theme. After the grand pause, the second movement, Adagio cantabile, enters with strumming strings accompanying a serenade-like melody in the cello part. The finale is a tour-de-force for the soloist. The second theme of the finale is initially presented in the subtonic key of A major, returning in B major in the recapitulation. While there is no tempo change indicated, the coda of the finale is typically taken at a slower tempo because of the increase in the surface rhythm. This coda was, arguably, influenced by Rossini and Donizetti. The motive found in the upper strings could have in turn influenced the coda of Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s Variations on a Rococo Theme. The major-minor figuration in the last few measures of the solo part is similar to the one found at the end of Servais’s Le Désir.
Our edition is based on the first edition published by Schott in March 1848. We consulted both the orchestral version as well as the solo part published by Richault in preparation for this edition. The Richault edition was missing some fingerings that were present in the Schott edition. Some additional fingerings present in the cello cue line of the piano score were also inserted into the main text except for m. 19 of the second movement, where the use of the thumb seems like a printing error. The sources were graciously provided by the Servais Society.
A special thank you to Peter François for offering his expertise.