The fourth volume of the Musica Revelata series presents the Overture À Grand Orchestre in C major, Op. 10, by Franciszek Lessel (Franz Lessel, 1780–1838), dedicated to prince Konstanty Adam Czartoryski. The work was edited and introduced by Jakub Skrzeczkowski.
Franciszek Lessel had close related with Puławy and the Czartoryski family. Lessel, born in Warsaw, spent the first years of his life in Puławy, where he learned the basics of music from his father Wincenty (c. 1750–c. 1825), a Czech bandmaster at the court of the Czartoryski family. The presented concert overture is not the only work dedicated to a member of this aristocratic family, but, on the contrary, it belongs to the group of works by Franciszek Lessel, created or published immediately after the artist’s return to Poland at the end of 1808, whose dedications were addressed to the Czartoryski family. The adagio et rondeau à la polonaise in E flat major, Op. 9, was dedicated by the composer to Józefina Maria Potocka, née Czartoryska, while Piano Fantasy in E minor, Op. 13 – to Cecylia Beydale, illegitimate daughter of Izabela Czartoryska, and Piano Concerto in C major op. 14 – to Zofia Zamoyska, née Czartoryska. In this context, the dedication of the Overture, Op. 10 can not only be taken as a form of Lessel’s gratitude to prince Konstanty, but should be also interpreted as an expression of respect for the entire family, which financed the composer stay and education in Vienna.
The circumstances of creating of the Overture (as many Lessel’s works) remain unknown, however it is known that the notes of the composition for 16 instruments were printed by the Breitkopf & Härtel publishing house in Leipzig around mid-1812. Concert Overture in C major, Op. 10 was orchestrated to one flute, two oboes or clarinets, two bassoons, two horns, two trumpets, kettle-drums and a string quintet. The work in sonata form (Allegro) begins from a slow introduction (Adagio maestoso), which is typical for works from the early period of the concert overture. It is worth emphasizing that this is the first Polish concert overture and – due to the formal and harmonic solutions created by the composer – one of the most significant examples of this genre in the European music of the first decades of the 19th century, which has not been edited until today.
The ouverture were edited and commented on by Jakub Skrzeczkowski, a graduate of the Institute of Musicology at the University of Warsaw.
The PDF file can be free downloaded in the Publications tab, the paper version of the work is available on the website of the Sub Lupa printing house.