Carl Maria von Weber’s bassoon concerto owes its existence to his 1811 sojourn in Munich, where he enjoyed great success at court as a pianist and, above all, as a composer – “The whole orchestra has taken leave of their senses and want to have concertos from me,” he reported. Besides the two clarinet concertos and the concertino for his friend Heinrich Baermann, the bassoon concerto for Friedrich Brandt, principal bassoonist of the Munich Court Orchestra, was also composed there in November 1811. With its joie de vivre, its wit and the enchantingly lyrical middle movement, Weber’s concerto quickly gained great popularity and today, together with Mozart’s bassoon concerto, numbers among the essential repertoire works for this instrument.

Evaluated for the present new edition were Weber’s autograph, the manuscript engraver’s copy and Weber’s authorised first edition. It was thereby possible to undo countless distorting encroachments in the posthumously published piano reduction of 1870, on which to the present day the majority of editions are based. With that, one of the most important works in bassoon literature is finally available in reliable Henle Urtext quality – the new reference edition for study and teaching!

Dominik Rahmer (Editor)
Christoph Sobanski (Piano reduction)

• Weber’s concerto is part of the bassoon core repertoire due to its joyful music, esprit and charming lyrical middle movement.
• Urtext edition based on all available sources which corrects all distorting changes in the posthumously published piano reduction from 1870
• Published punctually for the jubilee of Weber’s death 200 years ago
• For advanced amateurs, students and professionals