Double Bass Concerto in E Flat Major (Wanhal)

Concerto in E Flat Major
by Johann Baptist Wanhal
The composer
Key	E-Flat Major
Period	Classical
Composed	1773 (1773)
Duration	20 minutes
Movements	3
Scoring	Double Bass and Orchestra
Premiere
Date	1969 (1969)
Location	Vienna

Concerto for Double Bass in E Flat Major is a work for double bass and orchestra by Johann Baptist Wanhal. The piece runs approximately 20 minutes.

Background

Wanhal's concerto is dated as the third major double bass concerto, behind Haydn's lost concerto, and Dittersdorf's concerto. The date of the work's composition is not known, but it is speculated to have been finished in 1773. No original manuscripts have been found in Wanhal's handwriting, but a version by an unknown copyist was found in the estate of bassist Johann Matthias Sperger. It is speculated that Sperger was the composer's intended performer of the concerto.

The concerto was originally written in the key of E flat major for basses tuned in the standard Viennese tuning (A,F#,D,A,F) of the time. In modern performances, the work is transposed down a semi tone to E major or three semi tones to D major.

Structure

In typical concerto form, the work contains three movements:

1. Allegro moderato
2. Adagio
3. Allegro

Recordings

• Rinat Ibragimov (musician) Double Bass, April 1, 2011. [1]
• Budapest Festival Orchestra, Gábor Takács-Nagy Conductor, January 5, 2016. [2]
• Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Kevin Brown Double Bass, March 1, 2017. [3]