Concerto C major for Violoncello and Orchestra "Seydl" (parts) - Antonín Kraft (ed. Jakub Michl)

30. prosinec 2015

Koncert C dur pro violoncello a orchestr "Seydlův" - Antonín Kraft (ed. Jakub Michl)|foto:Nakladatelství ČRo

Antonín Kraft was considered one of the best cellists of his time. Already Joseph Haydn himself commended his “precise intonation and expressive performance”. His second cello concerto D major from the year 1783 (Hob. hVIIb:2) was written for Kraft. Also Beethoven, when writing his Triple Concerto C major op. 53 between 1803 and 1804, composed the solo cello part with the intention for it to be premiered by Kraft. This indeed happened in 1808: Kraft played together with the violinist Ferdinand Karl August Seidler, and the Austrian Archduke Johann Joseph Rainer Rudolf at the solo piano.

Koncert pro violoncello a orchestr C dur "Seydlův" (party) - Antonín Kraft (ed. Jakub Michl)

The first Concerto C major is the fourth opus number in the series of published compositions written by him. Based on the data on the front sheet, it was published in print probably between 1809-1814. Concerto in C major for Violoncello and orchestra that is being published in this edition was composed before 1803 when the only so far preserved copy was created by Josef Antonín Seydel. Seydl was born in Beroun on 9 April 1775. He went to school there and he began to study music for the first time. According to correspondence, according to notes in Seydel’s memoirs and especially according to preserved music sheets that he left behind, Seydel was a skillful violinist and cellist (at the age of 13 he played Pichl’s violin concerto in B flat major and between 1789-1792 he was a fundatist in Latin school in Svatá Hora near Příbram where he played violin). After 1794 he also started to learn to play the ”basétl“,26 which he practiced mostly during his Beroun stay. Having been ordained in 1800, he became a junior chaplain in Rokycany. However, soon afterwards he was recalled to his home town Beroun to become a chaplain. Besides 1806-1813 when he was a dean in Lochovice, he spent his whole life in Beroun, especially after 1813 as a dean.

The “Seydl‘s“ Cello Concerto in C major by Antonín Kraft is based on a copy by Josef Antonín Seydl, dated 1803 in Beroun. The date and the location can be found at the end of all the parts: „The end. 1803. w. Ber.“ The manuscript is preserved in the State District Archives in Beroun under the call number HU 304.

Kraft’s output consists of nearly twenty preserved pieces. Seven works were printed during the author’s lifetime; the rest has remained in autographs. Most of the compositions contain a cello part: he had obviously written many of these pieces for his own instrumental performances at aristocratic courts where he had been employed. He wrote six cello sonatas with contrabass accompaniment, three duos for violin and cello, several baryton trios and cello duos; two cello concertos have also been preserved.

Other compositions by Antonín Kraft published in Czech Radio:
Concerto for Violoncello and Orchestra, op. 4
Concerto C major for Violoncello and Orchestra "Seydl" (score)

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