In terms of its reputation, Josef Mysliveček’s Concerto in C major deserves to enjoy the same status as the concertos by Haydn and Boccherini. Now, an authoritative new edition provides the basis for performances.

In the second half of the 20th century there were several examples where an individual performer could catapult a work into the public consciousness. For example, the Concerto in G minor for cello and orchestra by Matthias Georg Monn might have been completely forgotten today, if the phenomenal Jacqueline du Pré had not recorded it with the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Sir John Barbirolli in 1968. Boris Pergamenschikow achieved a similar significance for the C major concerto by the Bohemian composer Josef Mysliveček (1737–1781), which he was the first to record in 1972 with the Leningrad Chamber Orchestra conducted by Lazar Gozman for Melodija. For this recording, the musicologist Oldřich Pulkert made an edition which was published by the Soviet publisher Muzyka in 1973.

I had the opportunity to meet Pulkert personally in 2013 – whilst I was a student at the Prague Academy of Performing Arts. My interest was particularly in identifying the sources of Joseph Haydn’s Cello Concerto in C major, which he had succeeded in doing in 1961. I remember well how Oldřich Pulkert told me about the lucky discovery and the excitement about the telephone call when Haydn’s authorship was confirmed by Anthony van Hoboken. From this meeting I gleaned not only valuable information, but also the orchestral parts of the Mysliveček Concerto, then still unknown to me.

The 1973 edition was carefully studied, but unfortunately it did not contain any information about Pulkert’s sometimes far-reaching interventions in both the cello part as well as in the orchestral parts. The interventions were of such an extensive kind that this edition is comparable with the Gaevert edition of Haydn’s Cello Concerto in D major, legendary amongst cellists. By contrast, Pulkert’s collaboration with Boris Pergamenschtschikow in creating cadenzas for all three movements was of great value.

What makes Josef Mysliveček’s Cello Concerto so special? From my experience of giving many performances, I can confirm that this is a very effective work with audiences, comparable with both the Haydn concertos. The solo part is written in places in effective high registers – a result of the arrangement of the original version for violin. The cello is always in a balanced dialogue with the orchestra and allows the soloist to shine.

One rarity is the melodic writing, which recalls Czech folk song in several places. In a copyist’s score of 1909, there are entries with texts of Czech folk songs which interestingly come from southern and western Bohemia. Whether this was a free association made by the copyist, a tendency to emphasize national affinity typical of the time or another influence, it is indisputable that Mysliveček’s output is characterized by dance, song and wit.

The new edition from Bärenreiter Praha, edited by Vojtěch Spurný based on sources from Vienna and Weimar, should contribute to the work becoming part of the standard repertoire of cellists. As well as the full score and orchestral material, available on hire with a Critical Report, a new piano reduction has been published containing a cello part edited by me, which also includes Boris Pergamenschtschikow’s cadenzas and his fingering.

Tomáš Jamník
(from [t]akte 2/2025)