Josef Myslivecek

Concerto in C major

The only concerto for violoncello and orchestra by Josef Myslivecek (1737–1781) was written around 1770. It is most likely Myslivecek's own arrangement of his Violin Concerto No. 2, which he probably wrote for the cellist Antonio Vandini, who was in the same city during Myslivecek's stay in Padua between 1768 and 1774. Due to the transcription, the cello part often moves in high registers and is quite demanding. Long unknown, the three-movement work is now one of the most important concertante works of the classical cello repertoire, along with the two Haydn concertos.

This Urtext edition makes the concerto accessible for the first time in its original form. Since the autograph is lost, the editor Vojtech Spurný has chosen a contemporary copy of the parts, including the solo part, which must have been made before 1800 and is in the archive of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Vienna, as the main source. The well-known Czech cellist Tomáš Jamník has provided the solo part with hints for interpretation.