Danzi - Cello Concerto in A major, P. 241 (Urtext Edition, Solo Part)

Franz Danzi (1763–1826) was a German cellist, composer, and conductor, the son of the Italian cellist Innocenz Danzi and brother of the noted singer Francesca Lebrun. Although Danzi is mainly remembered today for his woodwind music, he also made notable contributions to the cello repertoire, including at least five concertos, two of which are considered lost, a concertino, several sonatas, and chamber works. Danzi also mentored Carl Maria von Weber, who later included a rondo based on Danzi’s opera Der Quasimann (1789), Therese’s Rondo, “The Guardian Spirit, the Lover,” in his Grand Potpourri, Op. 20 (1808).

The present Cello Concerto in A major was published in 1803 in Zürich by Hans Georg Nägeli, also known as Jean George Naigueli, with the low plate number 7. The concerto is especially notable for its finale, a set of variations on Mozart’s “Là ci darem la mano” from Don Giovanni. The first movement is in sonata form, though without the return of the primary theme in the recapitulation. The slow movement is in ternary form in F major and leads directly into the finale through a 17-bar transition. The finale contains four variations, the third of which is a more lyrical variation in the minor mode. The 84-bar coda is based on “Andiam, andiam, mio bene.”

Our edition is based on the first-edition parts graciously provided by the Loeb Music Library at Harvard University. All deviations from the source have been detailed in the footnotes and marked with editorial indications in the orchestra score.

This set contains the solo cello part only.

ASTA level: 5