Costanzi - Cello Concerto in D major (Urtext Edition, Keyboard Reduction)

Giovanni Battista Costanzi was an Italian composer and cello virtuoso active in eighteenth-century Rome. He entered the service of Cardinal Pietro Ottoboni in 1721 and later held important positions at S. Luigi dei Francesi, in the households of Cardinal Trojano Acquaviva d’Aragona and Cardinal Albani, and as maestro di cappella of the Cappella Giulia.

Costanzi wrote extensively for the cello, including sinfonias, sonatas for cello and basso, and several cello concertos. His best-known concerto is the D major Concerto, long misattributed to Joseph Haydn. The attribution persisted because a manuscript bearing Haydn’s name reached Breitkopf in 1772 and was listed in Supplemento VII. Three of the four surviving manuscripts still carry Haydn’s name, though these copies appear to derive from a common source. Under Haydn’s attribution, Hoboken catalogued the concerto as Hob. VIIb:4, now VIIb:4*.

This edition restores the concerto to Costanzi and is based on the manuscript housed at the Musikverein in Vienna, IX 2345 (Q 16641), for the violin, viola, and basso parts. This source names Costanzi as the composer and contains more detailed dynamics than the so-called Zittau model. Since the solo part is not preserved in the Musikverein source, the solo cello part in this edition is based on the manuscript held at SLUB Dresden, Mus.3356-O-505.

This set includes the solo cello part and a newly composed keyboard reduction, making the concerto practical for study, lessons, auditions, and recital performance.

We gratefully acknowledge the Musikverein in Vienna and SLUB Dresden for making these sources available for this edition.

More information about the work is available here: https://yuriyleonovich.com/blogs/musings/posts/7181846/critical-notes-series-costanzi-s-cello-concerto-in-d-major

ASTA level: 3