Konzert für Violoncello = Concerto for Violoncello and Orchestra no. 1 H 196 I–III

The Concerto for Violoncello and Orchestra No. 1 by Bohuslav Martinů exists in three versions: the first dates from 1930, the second from 1939, and the third from 1955. These three versions differ substantially in instrumentation, with far fewer alterations in the solo part. Yet they are practically identical regarding form and themes.

This volume comprises all three versions and sheds new light on some of the circumstances of their genesis. The original version, composed in Paris in 1930, is presented here for the first time; the second version, written in Vieux-Moulin in 1939, was never published in Martinů’s lifetime and is only now being made public in this edition. In contrast, the score of the third version of the concerto was apparently published immediately after its completion in Nice in 1955, with the cello part carefully revised by the cellist Pierre Fournier at the composer’s behest.

The Foreword investigates the complex genesis of all three versions of the concerto, their publishing history, and their reception. Selected facsimile pages of the autograph score document the composer’s cuts, complicated passages, and the original part of the first version with the composer’s amendments for the third. All musical and textual sources relevant to the edition are described and assessed in the Critical Commentary.