Program Notes for Tchaikovsky and More!
Notes researched & written by Joan Olsson
FRANZ ANTON HOFFMEISTER
1754 — 1812
VIOLA CONCERTO in D MAJOR
Franz Anton Hoffmeister was born in Rothenburg am Neckar (Austria) and studied music as a child. At age 14 he entered and graduated from law school in Vienna. However he became so attracted to the city’s rich musical life that he decided to devote his life to music.
Despite a late start as a composer, Hoffmeister became a prolific, popular composer of works that were well known throughout the Holy Roman Empire and European capitals. By the 1780s Hoffmeister had geared his style more towards the skilled amateur market than to the professional musician. And yet, the composer’s works were so highly respected by his contemporaries that he was considered to be a master of all the instruments he wrote parts for. However, his works were considered “unfashionable” by the 1820s, usurped by the new styles of the Romantic era. Hoffmeister’s listings ultimately included 25 concertos for flute, 9 operas, 66 symphonies, 14 keyboard works, and a large number of chamber and piano music and collections of songs.
In addition to composing Hoffmeister’s reputation rested on his activities as a music publisher. By 1785 he had established one of Vienna’s first music publishing businesses whose catalogue included works by Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven and Clementi among others. The publishing house eventually evolved into the well-respected firm of C. F. Peters that is still active today.
The Concerto in D Major, composed prior to 1799, was one of the first major concertos to feature the viola as a virtuoso solo instrument and its classically oriented charms sound similar to Mozart as the soloist shows off in fast passages in the first movement.