Costanzi - Cello Concerto in D major (Urtext Edition, Orchestra Score/Parts)

Giovanni Battista Costanzi (1704-1778) was an Italian composer and cello virtuoso. He entered the service of the famous Cardinal Pietro Ottoboni in 1721. In 1722, Costanzi was appointed to the post of violoncellist at S. Luigi dei Francesi in Rome. In 1740 he entered the service of Cardinal Trojano Acquaviva d'Aragona and, on the latter's death in

Giovanni Battista Costanzi (1704-1778) was an Italian composer and cello virtuoso. He entered the service of the famous Cardinal Pietro Ottoboni in 1721. In 1722, Costanzi was appointed to the post of violoncellist at S. Luigi dei Francesi in Rome. In 1740 he entered the service of Cardinal Trojano Acquaviva d'Aragona and, on the latter's death in 1752, the service of Cardinal Albani. He was also maestro di cappella at various churches in Rome: Madonna di Loreto in 1742, and S. Marco e S. Maria in Vallicella the following year. In 1754 he was named assistant to Pietro Paolo Bencini, succeeding him as maestro di cappella of the Cappella Giulia at his death in 1755.

Costanzi wrote many works for his own instrument, including 5 sinfonias and at least 12 sonatas for cello and basso (or second cello), as well as at least 3 cello concertos. Two of the three concertos are on the easier side for the soloist, lightly orchestrated with 2 violins and basso. Both of the manuscripts of these works are housed at the Alströmer-Samlingen, F major (150:17, complete parts) and C major (150:16, solo and basso parts only).

Costanzi's most noted work is the D-major cello concerto, once attributed to Joseph Haydn. The reason for the persistent attribution to Haydn even into the 21st century was that one of the manuscripts with Haydn's name on it arrived at the Breitkopf firm in 1772 and was cataloged in Supplemento VII. In fact, three of the four manuscripts that still exist today have Haydn's name on them, but the “Haydn” copies originate from a single source (Zittau model) as can be deduced from the common peculiarities. Under Haydn's attribution, Hoboken grouped this concerto with other cello concertos under the number Hob. VIIb:4, now VIIb:4*.

Our new edition is based on the manuscript housed at the Musikverein in Vienna (IX 2345 (Q 16641)) for the violin, viola, and basso parts. This source has Costanzi's name on it. The dynamics are more detailed than the Zittau model. Since the solo part is not extant in the Musikverein, we used the solo part housed at SLUB Dresden (Mus.3356-O-505). We would like to thank both archives for putting these sources are our disposal.

This set contains the orchestra score, solo and orchestra parts.

For more information on the work, please visit https://yuriyleonovich.com/blogs/musings/posts/7181846/critical-notes-series-costanzi-s-cello-concerto-in-d-major