Oboe Concertos at the Court of Thurn und Taxis
Franz Xaver Kerzelli (c1730-c1794)
Concerto in F
Theodor von Schacht (1748-1823)
Concertante a tre oboi principale in B-flat*
Joan Baptista (?) Pla (c1720-c1773)
Concerto in B-flat
Franz Xaver Kerzelli
Concerto in B-flat
Xenia Löffler, Alfredo Bernardini*, Michael Bosch* (oboes)
Batzdorfer Hofkapelle
rec. 2022, Historischer Reitstadel, Neumarkt, Germany
Reviewed as a stereo 16/44 download from Naxos; booklet provided by Proper Music Group
Accent ACC 24388 [81]

The discography of Xenia Löffler, one of today’s main performers on period oboes, is impressive. Part of it is what seems to be a project of exploring the oboe repertoire in the musical metropoles of 18th-century Germany. The first of this series of recordings was devoted to Dresden (review), the second to Berlin. For the third instalment, she turned to Regensburg in Bavaria, more specifically to the court of Thurn und Taxis, which flourished in the second half of the 18th century, until it was dissolved in 1806.

The court was founded in 1748 by the Tasso family, which was from Lombardy in northern Italy; the known history of the family goes back to around 1200. From the 15th century onward, it was an important player in the postal services in Europe and continued to be active in this field until the end of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806. Until 1701 the central administration and control of the enterprise was located in Brussels. It then moved to Frankfurt, and in 1748 to Regensburg. That was the year that the reigning Prince, Alexander Ferdinand von Thurn und Taxis, was appointed Principal Commissioner of the Emperor, meaning his direct representative. In 1754, Alexander Ferdinand was added to the College of Imperial Princes.

The court developed into one of the main musical centres in the German-speaking world. In 1784 the music theorist Christian Friedrich Daniel Schubart stated that “this gleaming German court has caused a sensation in recent times through music. Everything here has become musical.” This was due to the financial power of the family; in 1770 the annual profit of the Thurn und Taxis company was around 500,000 florins, and at the end of the century it rose above a million. The family spent much money on music. “Thus, within a few years, a respectable court orchestra had been established in Regensburg, which in the period around 1790 was almost 40 musicians strong and had an annual budget of 33,000 guilders – a sum that most other courts in southern and central Germany at that time could only dream of”, writes Bernhard Schrammek in his liner-notes.

The court engaged a number of mostly Italian singers, and also high-calibre instrumental soloists. They performed frequently; in 1783 the Swedish composer Joseph Martin Kraus visited the court and every day a concert took place in his honour: “I could not marvel enough at the perfection of the orchestra.” There is no concrete information of which music was performed, but the Regensburg Royal Court Library preserves the musical archive of the court, which comprises nearly 1,000 symphonies and around 400 solo concertos. The music performed on the present disc is part of it and features oboe concertos, which were undoubtedly played by the court’s star oboist, Giovanni Palestrini. He was from Venice and made appearances as a soloist at several places. In 1772, he visited Regensburg and made such an impression that he was engaged at a high salary. He stayed at the court for more than thirty years. He was not only the orchestra’s principal oboist, but also headed the wind ensemble, playing what is known as Harmoniemusik, a particularly popular genre at the time.

The programme includes two concertos by Franz Xaver Kerzelli, a member of a musical family of Bohemian origin, although Franz Xaver was born in Vienna; he Italianised his name to Francesco Saverio Cherzelli. He worked for some time in Ukraine and in Moscow; in 1779 he was back in Vienna. He seems not to have had any connection to the court of Thurn und Taxis, and therefore the two concertos included here were not written for Palestrini. In the Concerto in B-flat, the oboe is supported by strings; in the Concerto in F these are joined by a pair of horns. The two concertos are written in the galant idiom, and give the oboist all kinds of opportunities to shine.

The most remarkable piece is undoubtedly the Concertante a tre oboi principale by Theodor von Schacht. He was a pupil of Joseph Riepel, the first director of the court’s orchestra, and then of Niccolò Jommelli in Stuttgart. After his return to Regensburg, he was mainly responsible for opera performances at the court. He also composed music in all genres, from chamber music to opera, and he laid the foundation of the above-mentioned music collection. A concerto for three oboes is not very common; I wonder how many such pieces have been written. There is something special about this concerto. Obviously, the first part was intended for Palestrini; the second was played by Franz Hanisch, who also received a high salary. But who played the third oboe part? The first movement includes a written-out cadenza, and in the third oboe part this ends with an f”’, which at the time only one oboist was able to play: Friedrich Ramm, the solo oboist of the Mannheim court orchestra. It is known that he visited Regensburg in 1791, and that makes it very likely that von Schacht wrote this concerto for that particular occasion. It is a technically demanding piece, but it is also musically compelling to hear three oboes playing together, and the cadenza is an astonishing episode.

The last piece is a Concerto in B-flat by one of the three brothers Pla, who worked in Madrid as oboists but also travelled as soloists across Europe. Bernhard Schrammek assumes that this concerto may have landed in the Thurn und Taxis music collection through von Schacht, who may have met Joan Pla during his time in Stuttgart. Unfortunately, the Pla brothers never added their Christian names to their compositions, and therefore it is impossible to establish which of the three is the composer of a piece. This concerto is the typical product of a composer who writes music for his own use. The oboe part is technically challenging, giving the composer/soloist the opportunity to show off, whereas the strings have a modest accompanying role.

It cannot be appreciated enough that a performer like Xenia Löffler is willing to leave the trodden paths and look for unknown repertoire. The booklet does not say so, but it seems likely that all the pieces performed here appear on disc for the first time. Given the level of music making at the court of Thurn und Taxis, one may expect that its music collection includes many more treasures. One can only hope that more of what is in it, is going to be performed and recorded. This disc includes four concertos that are well worth being brought to our attention. They are tailor-made for Xenia Löffler, who is a technically brilliant performer, but also an engaging interpreter and produces a beautiful tone in all registers, playing with great flexibility. Palestrini was a high-calibre soloist, and so is she. She found two colleagues of equal merit in Alfredo Bernardini and Michael Bosch; the playing of these three in von Schacht’s concerto is a joy to listen to.

One does not need to be an oboe aficionado to enjoy this production. The programme takes 81 minutes – that’s giving value for money.

Johan van Veen

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