Part I, Background on the Oboe Concertos of Stanislas Verroust
Part II, The Four Stules of the 19th Century Concerto
Part III, Use of the French Romantic Style and the Scena Styled in Verroust's Solos de Concert for Oboe
Part IV, Conclusion
Bibliography

The rich legacy of 19th century oboe repertory held in the music collections of the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris includes twelve concerti by Hector Berlioz' contemporary, the brilliant French oboist, Louis-Stanislas-Xavier Verroust (1814-1863). These works are each entitled in a manner similar to the second in the series:

This wording conveys the original use of these concerti as solos for the oboists undertaking the annual July concours at the Paris Conservatoire.

Verroust's Solos are found in both the collection sent directly to the Bibliothèque Nationale by the publishing house of Richault, in order to comply with French copyright law, and among the collection of works transferred to the great repository from the Paris Conservatoire (c. 1963).

The "Conservatoire" set is found under call numbers K 1051 through 1055 and K 1070 through 1076, while the series sent directly by the publisher to the Bibliothèque Nationale is numbered consecutively Vm9 4937 through Vm9 4948. It is the later set, three of which include the orchestra] parts (in addition to the usual piano reduction) which will be under discussion in this article.

Verroust dedicated his Solos to the following persons:

#1 Madame Deltéral
#2 Madame de Bonnay
#3 Son Élève Mr. Fernand Magnien [2e Prix 1861]
#4 Mr. le Général Mellinet, Commt. la lère Division d'Infantérie de la Garde Impériale
#5 Mr. Victor Magnien, Directeur du Conservatoire de Musique de Lille
#6 Son Élève Théophile Lalliet [2e Prix 1859; 1er Prix 1860]
#7 Made. Émile de Taverne
#8 Son ami Édouard Vicq St. Michel [2e Prix 1840]
#9 Son ami Victor Rémy-Paillot
#10 Son ami Charles Hutin
#11 Son ami J. Démerssemann
#12 Sa Majesté Guillaume III Roi des Pays-Bas

Only sparse information is available at this time concerning these dedications.

In 1858, when the 3ème Solo was received by the Bibliothèque Nationale, Verroust's student, Henri Fernand Magnien, to whom it was dedicated, had not yet played for the three concours in which he would receive the awards of 2e Accessit, 1er Accessit, and 2e Prix (1859, 1860, and 1861 respectively). The question remains as to why Verroust held this particular student in such high esteem, since, in the long run, Henri Fernand was not able to achieve the 1er Prix. Perhaps the inscription on the 5ème Solo is part of the answer. If Victor Magnien, director of the Conservatoire at Lille, to whom it was dedicated, was Henri Fernand's father, or some other dose relative of the boy, then perhaps Verroust had something to gain from this connection, such as opportunities to play solos in Lille.

The 6ème Solo was received by the Bibliothèque Nationale in 1859, the very year in which Théophile Lalliet, to whom it is dedicated, received his 2e Prix! Lalliet received his 1er Prix the following year, and went on to become an important performer.

The 8ème Solo (c.1860) is dedicated to Edouard Vicq, who, like Verroust, had been a student of Gustave Vogt. In fact, Vicq had played Vogt's Premier Solo de Concert, described later in this article, in the 1840 concours, in which he received the 2e Prix. Unlike Verroust (1er Prix 1834), who was one of the most brilliant students ever to work with Vogt, Vicq never attained the 1er Prix.

To say the least, it would be interesting to know why Verroust dedicated his final work, the 12ème Solo, to William III, King of the Netherlands (reigned 1849-1890)!

[Select figure to enlarge here and below]

The plate number imprinted by the House of Richault on Verroust's Solos de Concert are as follows:

#1 Op. 73 13254. R.
#2 Op. 74 13290. R.
#3 Op. 76 13306. R.
#4 Op. 77 13311. R.
#5 Op. 78 13337. R.
#6 Op. 79 13338. R.
#7 Op. 81 13359. R.
#8 Op. 82 13239. R.
#9 Op. 83 13417. R.
#10 Op. 84 13434. R.
#11 Op. 85 13711. R.
#12 Op. 86 et Posthume 13698. R.

Obviously there is an error in the printing of the plate number of the 8ème Solo (13239. R.). Perhaps the final three scrambled numbers represent 13392 instead of 13239. Also, one notes that according to the numbering, the 11ème Solo, Op. 85 appeared in print after the 12ème Solo, Op. 86 et Posthume!

Although no dates were printed in the Solos when they were published by the House of Richault, we do know the approximate time of their appearance in print from the dates stamped on them by the Bibliothèque Nationale[1] when each was received at that institution. These are as follows:

Received in 1858:	Received in 1859 or 1860:	Received in 1863:
1er Solo, Op. 73	7ème Solo, Op. 81	12ème Solo, Op. 86 et Posthume
2ème Solo, Op. 74
3ème Solo, Op. 76

Received in 1859:	Received in 1860:	Received in 1864:
4ème Solo, Op. 77[2]	8ème Solo, Op. 82	11ème Solo, Op. 85
5ème Solo, Op. 78	9ème Solo, Op. 83
6ème Solo, Op. 79	10ème Solo, Op. 84

Since Verroust was appointed Gustave Vogt's successor as Professor of Oboe at the Paris Conservatoire on December 1, 1853 one would assume that the Premier Solo was prepared for the concours of July 1854. It would then follow that twelve solos, at the rate of one solo per school year, would take us up through the year 1865, but this would be two years after Verroust's death! Clearly this is not the whole story. According to Fétis' account of Verroust's life in his Biographie Universelle des Musiciens (1837-1844), the oboist was also a Professor of Oboe at the Gymnase de Musique Militaire: so perhaps some of the Solos were also used there, separate of any connection with the Paris Conservatoire. Further, it must be remembered that Verroust's great teacher, Gustave Vogt, had originally composed at least two of his own Solos de Concert as concertos for his own use before revising them to fit the constraints of the concours. Perhaps this procedure was followed by Verroust too,[3] resulting in the appearance of more than one Solo in certain years.

Concerning the dates of composition one can only surmise that at one concerto per year, beginning with the Premier Solo de Concert for the concours of July 1854, the following years would produce the first six Solos:

#1 1854 - #2 1855 - #3 1856

These three were received at the Bibliothèque Nationale from Richault in 1858.

#4 1857 - #5 1858 - #6 1859

These three were received at the Bibliothèque Nationale from Richault in 1859.

#7 1860? - #8 1860? - #9 1860? - #10 1860

The date of reception at Bibliothèque Nationale for #7 is 1859 or 1860. Numbers 8, 9, and 10 were received from Richault in 1860. But why would Verroust compose a set of four for an entire year?

#11 1861 - Received at the Bibliothèque Nationale in 1864.
#12 1862 - Received at the Bibliothèque in 1863.

It is worth noting that at the time of Verroust's death on April 9, 1863, two Solos had yet to be received by the Bibliothèque Nationale, the 12ème Solo (1863) and the 11ème Solo (1864). Since the House of Richault had changed its Parisian residence in October 1862 from 26, Boulevard Poissonnisere to 4, Boulevard des Italiens, the delay in printing and transmitting the 11ème Solo to the Bibliothèque Nationale might be attributed to the confusion resulting from. such a move.

In any case, further research is definitely needed in order to determine more accurately when these 12 Solos were actually used in the concours. The recent work completed by Kristine Klopfenstein Fletcher on the 19th century concours solos for bassoon [4] has yet to be undertaken for the parallel oboe repertoire.

According to the Triébert Catalogue de Musique de Hautbois et de Cor Anglais of 1866[5] the orchestral parts for all twelve Verroust Solos were still available at the time of its publication, three years after Verroust's death. The Bibliothèque Nationale, though, received only three of these orchestra sets: that for Solo 1 in 1858 and those for Solos 8 and 9 in 1860.

Although one might be led from the title pages of these Solos to assume that their orchestration included only a string quartet in addition to the solos, in French orchestral terminology, " quatuor" simply means a 4 part string orchestra. The individual parts make this clear: of the three Solos found among the Vm9 series, the orchestra parts are given as follows:

Premier Solo: 1er Violon - 2d Violon - Alto - Violoncelle & C[ontra]-basse

8ème Solo: 1o Violino 2o Violino Alto Violoncelle

9ème Solo: 1r Violon 2d Violon Alto Basse

According to the orchestration of the Premier Solo, a string orchestra seems to be in order as the string bass has a separate part.[6] The 8ème Solo does appear to maintain a string quartet instrumentation because the lowest part is simply marked cello. The 9ème Solo could go either way depending upon how one interprets the designation Basse. However, in addition to the usual concerto orchestra indications of tutti and solo, the directive soli appears throughout all three sets of these orchestra parts indicating a reduction from full section to one player.

For modern performances, the present author would be inclined to opt for full string orchestra, since the first four Solos de Concert for the concours by Verroust's predecessor, Gustave Vogt, were orchestrated for an even larger ensemble, including strings, woodwinds, and brass. It seems unlikely that the tradition would have retrogressed so radically by the time Verroust took over from him in 1853.[7] Perhaps later research will tell us more about the ensembles which accompanied the concours solos in the 19th century.[8]

The keys chosen by Verroust for his concertos are those which lie best on the Triébert Système oboe, one of the more common types in use at the time in Paris.[9] These are tonalities which do not exceed two flats or two sharps in the key signature.

C major	#l/#7	G minor	#2/#5
A minor	#6/#11	G major	#12
F major	#3	E minor	#10
D minor	#4	D major	#9
Bb major	#8

This is not to say that more remote tonalities remained unused in these Solos. However, an examination of all of these works indicates that Verroust actually went to great pains to avoid such excursions. For example, in the 11ème Solo in A minor, the dominant tonality of E major with its four sharps is only lightly touched upon!

One must keep in mind the fact that these Solos served a pedogogical purpose at the Conservatoire. Based on a review of the tonalities in use, it appears that Verroust was consciously making it easier for his students to survive the substantial pressures of the concours by writing in keys with fewer problems of fingering and intonation. If anything, these Solos demonstrate Verroust's concept of creating works in which the primary aim is to show off the beauty of the sound of the oboe throughout its several registers. To be sure, the execution of quick moving bel canto ornamentation also plays a major role in Verroust's method.

One concerto, though, namely the 10ème Solo in E minor, does present far reaching tonalities over a lengthy span. The second movement of this work is in the tonic of E major, and the dominant of B major is touched upon in all three movements. This must have had the students cursing Verroust for some time!

Sections of other works, in which tonalities can be found reaching beyond two flats or two sharps are:

#2	Finale	Eb major	Trio: 2a
		B major	Trio: 2b
#3	Aria II	Ab major	1c
	Finale	A major	Trans. B/2b
#4	1st, 2nd, 3rd mvts.	A major	Themes in V
#6	1st movement	E major	2c/2k
	2nd movement	E major	Cadenza
#7	Aria II	Ab major	le
#9	1st and 3rd mvts.	A major	Themes in V
#10	1st movement	B major	3a
	2nd movement	E major	la
		B major	1b/Cadenza
	3rd movement	B major	Trio: 2c
#11	Aria I	A major	2a
	Finale	A major	Trio/Coda
		E major	Trio: 1b/2b
#12	3rd movement	Ab major	Trio: 2d

Before proceeding to look at the structure of the twelve oboe concertos by Stanislas Verroust, it will first be necessary to examine the four types of concerto being written during the 19th century. When analyses of the Verroust Solos are eventually presented, a clearer understanding will then emerge concerning how this composer followed or diverged from contemporary practice.

During the early years of the 19th century, the structural procedures of the Classical concerto, so wonderfully exemplified in the late works of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, were still being observed by composers throughout Europe. Of particular importance in this period are the concertos of Ludwig van Beethoven and Jean Baptiste Viotti. These contain the traditional three movements, fast-slow-fast, the outer ones being cast in ritornello form.[10] In addition, the first of these maintains an unusually complex overlay of sonata form as can be seen in the initial movement of Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 4.

N.B. The diagrams used in this paper follow the system, now in general use, which was first set forth by Jan LaRue in Guidelines for Style Analysis (New York, 1970). But rather than using the letters P for principal theme, and S for secondary theme, the various themes are presented numerically in order to avoid any value judgment. Subdivisions of these themes are indicated by the letters a, b, c, etc. LaRue's subscripts (k for closing theme, and x and y for thematic fragments) have been retained, the k themes being numerically ordered. For example, I:3k4:I indicates that the fourth closing theme attached to Theme 3 repeats. In like manner, 2b means "second part of Theme 2".

The Classical style of Beethoven, of course, persisted during the 19th century in the concertos of Chopin, Brahms, Dvorák and others. Among composers of oboe concertos, this type seems to have been most popular through the Napoleonic years to 1815: Gustave Vogt's initial group of seven (among his sixteen oboe concertos) bears witness to this fact.

Because many artists desired to find methods of composition more in keeping with the spirit of the age, the accepted first movement Classical structure rapidly began to undergo changes which by the 1830s resulted in three additional types of concerto. These new structures which take the Classical form as a point of departure have recently been identified by the present writer as the Scena, French Romantic, and German Romantic styles.

In the Scena type, which appears to have been the first of the new styles to develop, the entire concerto of three linked movements is viewed as the instrumental equivalent of an Italian operatic scene, in which a recitativo is followed by two arias, the first being slow and the second fast. In keeping with this new concept, the initial movement of the scena style concerto tends toward a construction in which instrumental recitativo can play a major role. Therefore, the ritornellosonata form is no longer maintained, as its length and intricacy would be counterproductive.

This operatic manner of constructing a concerto might seem out of place at first. However, if we go back to the time of Antonio Vivaldi (1675-1741), when the first soloistic concertos appeared, the explanation may be found. It is clear that the very concept of the ritornello form which Vivaldi used in creating the outer (fast) movements of his concertos was derived from a common structural feature of contemporary operatic arias. Furthermore, shortly after the mid 18th century (at a time when the da capo aria reigned supreme) the opening ritornello form movements of concerti began to reflect this fact by recapitulating in the third episode materials taken from the first. The structure known as ritornello-sonata form was thereby created.

It was only natural then that the concerto would eventually imitate the style of an operatic scene. Indeed, the output of the oboist Gustave Vogt (1781-1870) includes actual scenes from seven different operas by Rossini, Mehul, and others which were arranged by him for oboe or English horn and orchestra. Perhaps this was an intermediate step to creating the Scena Style concerto. Ludwig Spohr's Violin Concerto No. 8, Op. 47 (1816), the so called Gesangsszene,[11] is among the first concertos to exhibit the features of the scena. Bernhard Molique duplicated the structure of Spohr's concerto in his Oboe Concertino in G Minor (1829):

In creating his opening movement, Molique has radically modified the first movement ritornellosonata form structure of the Classical concerto. Ritornello I has been shortened from several themes to just one. Episode Il is most unusual in that it is cast entirely as a recitativo, rather than as a development section. In addition, rather than continuing with a recapitulation, this initial movement breaks off after Episode 11 and leads directly into the slow movement. Further, the sole theme of the first movement , [Theme 1x + 1y] returns transformed as theme lb of the third, making this work an early example in which cyclic procedures hold forth.[12]

Vincenzo Bellini's Oboe Concerto (1823) also begins like the Molique, with a recitativo section preceding the slow movement. But here, at the spots marked with fermatas, the soloist must improvise his solo part. External features of the opening movement of Gaetano Donizetti's Concertino per Como Inglese (1816) indicate that it, too, is meant to be performed in the same manner before moving on to the theme and variations which forms the second movement.[13] Antoine Joseph Reicha's Scène pour le Cor Anglais (1811), which might be the very first scena concerto, begins with the recitativo movement fully written out, but then goes directly to a rondo finale, omitting any slow movement. On the other hand, some concertos, like Johann Nepomuk Hummel's Variations per l'oboe, Op. 102 (182 5) and Julius Rietz' Konzertstück, Op. 33 for Oboe and Orchestra (c.1846) place nothing at all before the slow movement.[14]

Among present day publications of Scena Style concertos for oboe and orchestra, others which are currently available include:

Carl Maria von Weber (1786-1826) (supposed composer) Concertino
Ignaz Moscheles (1794-1870) Concertante in F (flute and oboe)
Antoníno Pasculli (1842-1924) Concerto 'La Favorita'

Several Scena Style concertos by oboist-composers have recently been located and analyzed by the present author:

Friedrich-Eugen Thurner (1785-1827) Scene, Op. 35; Rondo Boleros, Op. 38
Christian Frederik Barth (1787-186 1) Concerto in Bb major; Rondeau suisse, Op. 10
Wilhelm Braun (1791 -?) Concertino, Op. 12
Apollon Marie Rose Barret (1804-1879) Aria di Bravura
Johann Heinrich Luft (1813-1868) Scene suisse, Op. 3; Fantaisie, Op. 12

To these can be added an unusual concerto in which the composer waits until the third movement finale before presenting his recitativo movement:

Henri Brod (1799-1839) Duo (oboe and bassoon)

The finale, in this case, includes a recitativo followed by a two section aria. Insofar as the outer movements of this work are concerned, the procedure is exactly the reverse of that followed by Spohr and Molique in their Scena Style concertos, where the first movement (not the finale) contained the recitativo and where the finale (unlike the first movement) was cast in ritornello-sonata form.

Perhaps the most important among the concerti in Scena Style is Franz Liszt's cyclic Piano Concerto No. 1 of 1849 [revised in 1853 and 1856], in which practically all traces of Classical concerto structure are missing in its four movements. Here, the initial recitativo movement, built as a large ABA structure, is permeated with cadenzas. Liszt's addition of a scherzo following the slow movement of this work, although novel in the piano concerto of the day, had already been tried by Julius Rietz in his oboe Konzertstück, Op. 33 of 1846.[15]

At the very moment when the composer and theorist Antoine-Joseph Reicha was completing his Traité de haut composition musicale (1824), which contains some of the most advanced thinking of the day concerning musical structure, French artists were moving towards a second new concerto style, namely French Romantic. In this type, the first movement of a Classical ritornello-sonata form is brought to an end after the second ritornello. Like the Scena type, this movement leads directly into the slow movement which, in turn, is linked to the finale. In the French Romantic style this finale is usually a rondo, but substitutes for that traditional structure are also to be found.

Reicha must have been well aware of this activity since one of the major promoters of the French Romantic Concerto, the supreme 19th century oboist, Gustave Vogt, had once been his private composition student. As early as 1812, when his Deuxième Concerto was published, Vogt had demonstrated a move toward truncation in the first movement. And by 1824, the year of his Concertino per l'Oboe Priwipale[16] the truncation was complete. In Reicha's Traite of the same year, mysteriously, no mention was made of any kind of concerto structure!

Vogt was joined in his novel procedures[17] by others including the Belgian violinists Charles de Beriot and Henri Vieuxtemps. Together, they produced a particularly French style of concerto which was centered in Paris at the Conservatoire and which was promulgated by its students, among them the masterful Polish violinist, Henryk Wieniawski (1835-1880). An example of an initial movement structure maintained in the French Romantic Style is seen in Wieniawski's Violin Concerto No. 2:

The truncated ritornello-sonata form, outlined above, has as its focal point the closing thematic material (k themes) which feature technically difficult passage work suited to the idiomatic capabilities of the solo instrument. In the case of the piano, the closing themes can include such items as broken octaves and arpeggios; for the violin, double stops, chromatic runs, flying staccato and the like. Wind instruments in this section can demonstrate their capability to execute quick register changes, arpeggiation, and complex patterns of trills.

Another feature of this modified form is the secondary or contrasting theme which tends to be of the augmented variety, supported by exquisite chord progressions. In this section, the soloist may demonstrate his ability to produce a beautiful tone quality, to project that tone (often in piano or pianissimo), and to make use of his special ideas of phrasing. The primary, secondary and closing themes of Episode I are neither to be developed in an Episode 11 nor recapitulated as an Episode III in this abbreviated structure. Instead, a Ritornello Il in the dominant or relative major leads directly into the second movement without a break.

Current research by the present author into 19th century published oboe repertoire has yielded the following additional concertos in the French Romantic Style:

Gustave Vogt (1781-1870) Concertos Nos. 9-16 (excepting No. 12)
Johann Heinrich Luft (1813 -1868) Première Concertino; Second Concertino
Edouard Sabon Rhapsodie Concertino (c.1886); 2me Rhap. Concertino (c. 1890)

Excepting Stanislas Verroust's 4ème Solo de Concerto (to be discussed presently), only one other oboe concerto in the French Romantic Style is currently in print:

Johann Kalliwoda (1801-1866) Concertino, Op. 110[18]

The German Romantic version of the concerto seems rather plain in comparison to the Scena and French Romantic types. Here, the first (of the traditional three movements) is cast in sonata form, rather than in the ritornello-sonata form of the Classic style. Sometimes this initial movement will retain remnants of both the internal and final ritornellos, but in no case is the lengthy opening orchestral ritornello to be found. Examples of this type are in Felix Mendelssohn's Piano Concerto in G Minor, Op. 25 (1831), his famous Violin Concerto in E Minor, Op. 64 (1844) and in Robert Schumann's Piano Concerto in A Minor, Op. 54 (1841-1845). Strangely, the French composer Camille Saint-Saëns had a preference for the German Romantic type. His Violin Concerto No. 3, composed for the great Pablo Sarasate in 1880, contains a sonataform first movement of extraordinarily fine construction.

A close look at the first movement sonata form of Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto in E Minor is most revealing for understanding the role of the orchestral tutti in the German Romantic Style. The lack of ritornello form results in a situation where the orchestra (which formerly played the four ritornelli surrounding the solos) no specific sections to play alone. Therefore, the composer has allocated to the orchestra, purely by artistic license, a number of phrases which normally would be given to the soloist. These include the initial statements of Themes 2 and 3 in both exposition and recapitulation.

On the other hand, certain of the tutti sections in this movement dearly are reminiscent of ritornello form. For example, the recapitulation of Theme I a seems to function as a Ritornello III while themes 3k6 through 3k8 in the coda could be considered a Ritornello IV. The tutti performance of theme Ia' seems to be making apologies for the lack of an opening Ritornello where the tutti would be playing Ia. This is a clever structure:

Insofar as 19th century oboe concertos are concerned, the German Romantic style is not really found until the appearance of Richard Strauss' Oboe Concerto, which was written well into the 20th century (1946). On the other hand, the overall structure of Marie de Grandval's[19] Oboe Concerto, Op. 7 (1879-85) composed for Georges Gillet, makes this work appear a likely candidate for this style since each of its outer movements is cast in sonata form. The only problem here is that Grandval, in an effort to 'cover her tracks', appended an extensive opening ritornello to the first movement in order to make her concerto appear to be in the Classical Style!

In addition to Grandval's work, there is an oboe concerto by August Klughardt written about the year 1870, the structure of which resembles that of the later Carnival Overture, Op. 92 (1891) by Antonín Dvorák. This is a single sonata form movement enclosing a separate slow movement within its development section.

During the 19th century, when the vigorous activity described above was taking place, there was rarely a mention of it found in contemporary theoretical sources. Such works extend from Carl Czerny's School of Practical Composition (c. 1840), through Adolph Bernhard Marx's Die Lehre von der musikalischen Kompositionen, (Vol. 111: 1845) to Ebenezer Prout's Applied Forms (1895). The men who wrote these works continued instead to describe the Classical Style of concerto construction which led from Mozart and Beethoven, through Chopin, to Brahms and Dvorák.

Since many of the books produced by these theorists were destined to be used by students of composition, one might be tempted to assume that there was a conscious attempt to put a stop to what was already a fait accompli, through simply suppressing topical information, particularly that concerning the French and Scena types.

In the first edition of Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians (1879), during the course of his article on the concerto, Ebenezer Prout questions the absence of a scherzo movement within that genre. Since Prout wrote this after such movements had already appeared in works of Liszt[20] and Saint-Saëns,[21] it is obvious that he simply did not know of their existence. Therefore, we might assume the same was true concerning his knowledge of further aspects of Scena and French Romantic concertos, since none of those matters are touched upon.

Concerning the German Romantic type, it is to be noted that the theorist Ernst Pauer, writing on the concerto in his 1878 volume, Musical Forms, alludes to the fact that Mendelssohn and Schumann had dropped the initial ritornello in the first movement of their concertos. Actually, he says they had reduced it to the shortest dimension, so clearly he too did not completely understand what really was happening.

With the above in mind, we may now proceed to examine the structure of the twelve oboe concertos of Gustave Vogt's student and successor at Paris Conservatoire, Stanislas Verroust. Here, both the French and Scena styles of concerto are heavily in evidence.

Of the four styles of concerto espoused in the 19th century, two are present in the Verroust's twelve concertos which he entitled Solos de Concert. The first, which derives from Gustave Vogt's later oboe concertos (beginning with the Concertino per l' Oboe Principale of 1824) is the French Romantic type.[22] The other, having its roots in the Italian opera scene of the day has been identified in this paper as the Scena type. The 12 Solos may be divided into these two categories as follows:

Verroust seems to have been working out a systematic representation of these styles: three Scena works followed by three French Romantic items, then two of the former followed by two of the latter, and finally one of each. This play with numbers, an idea associated with sets of compositions created in the Baroque Era, is remarkable for its time!

In the French Romantic style, as described earlier, the first of three movements is a truncated ritornello-sonata form ending shortly after Ritornello II. In Verroust's version, the movement really seems to end even earlier: that is, after Episode I, since Ritornello II functions simply as a transition. This movement is then followed by a slow movement in rounded binary form in a related key, usually the parallel major or minor.[24]

The finale, like the first movement, is fast moving but it is constructed in a manner analogous to the scherzo in a symphony or string quartet: that is, in rounded binary form with trio and da capo. Clearly, Verroust chose this concise structure in order to follow the formal procedures of the more usual rondo finale, while not overburdening the performer with extended developmental episodes. A comparison of Rondo and Scherzo [Rounded Binary Form with Trio & Da Capo] format is outlined in the following diagrams:

Rondo	Rounded Binary Form with Trio & Da Capo[25]
Ritornello I	la
Episode I	lb
Ritornello II	la and 1k1
Episode II	Trio: 2a, 2b, 2c, 2a
Ritornello III	Da Capo: la
Episode III	Da Capo: lb
Ritornello IV	Da Capo: la and 1k2, 1k3, 1k2, 1k1

The 4ème Solo is outlined here to illustrate Verroust's overall procedure in the French Romantic style:

[26]

A glance at the 1er Solo de Concert (1840) by Verroust's teacher, Gustave Vogt, seems to indicate that Verroust's shorter version of the first movement in the French Romantic Style is actually based upon this model. To be sure, just as in Verroust's 4ème Solo, there is only one main theme in Ritornello I. In addition, Ritornello II is just a transition to the second movement.

[27]

Vogt's second movement, too, is typical of the type embraced by Verroust, but Vogt's use of multiple closing (k) themes makes it somewhat more complex. Also, Verroust preferred to use the parallel major or minor key here, rather than the third relationship espoused by Vogt:

Vogt's third movement in scherzo format is clearly what Verroust had in mind for both French Romantic and Scena style concertos, as all twelve of his finales are cast in this structure. Interestingly, the original version of this finale used in the 1840 concours was much shorter, but Vogt later increased it to the more lengthy scherzo structure given here. His note on the fa score (f-Pn: Ms. 16732), at the very point where the additional material begins, reads:[28]

"This piece having been composed for the concours of 1840, it was necessary for me to make it short; that which is [now] written is for further developing the last movement in order to execute this piece in a concert; it is necessary to place this coda at the 4th measure after the last[29] fermata."

In the Scena Style concertos of Spohr, Bellini, Molique, and Liszt which were previously discussed, the initial movement had stressed recitativo. Verroust's realization of the Scena Style begins instead with one or two slow or moderate tempo arias in rounded binary form; through composed movements also are to be found among these arias. For the most part, these movements are in the tonic.[30] In every case, a fast moving finale in the tonic, in rounded binary form with trio and da capo, follows, this being the identical structure found at the end of Verroust's concertos in the French Romantic style. The 3ème Solo exemplifies this approach:

By their very nature, the various movements of Verroust's Solos in the Scena style are linked together. His French Romantic style Solos tend to proceed in like manner, and that seems to be a characteristic which Verroust assumed from Gustave Vogt's later concertos. In addition, the rhythm of the polacca is the dominating factor of most of the finales. Solos ending in this manner include numbers 4, 9, and 12 (French Romantic type) and numbers 1, 2, 7, and 11 (Scena type).

The harmonic and melodic vocabulary of contemporary Italian Opera is very evident in numbers 4, 6, 9, and 10 (French Romantic type) and numbers 1, 2, 3, and I I (Scena type). Upon hearing these works, Giuseppe Verdi's Rigoletto of 1851 and La Traviata of 1853 come to mind immediately. Indeed, Verroust would have played 1st oboe in the première of Verdi's Les Vêpres sicilennes at the Paris Opera on June 13, 1855, at the end of his second year of teaching at the Conservatoire and at the very time when he was probably in the actual process of composing the 2ème Solo de Concert.[31]

Jacques Offenbach's mannerisms permeate numbers 5, 7, and 8, while Verroust is very indebted to the structural procedures of his oboe teacher Gustave Vogt at the opening of the 4ème Solo[32] and in the entirety of the 12ème Solo.

Certain special ideas, quite telling on the oboe, are also to be found. For example, the slow movement of the %me Solo exploits the very lowest register of the instrument, taking it down to low b several times. Also, concepts retained from the Classical Era, such as the florid ornamentation of repeated sections, extended cadential trills, and engaging cadenzas, are found throughout these works. Many of the slow movements maintain the eighth note as the tactus. This is then intricately subdivided, as in the Italian bel canto style.

The main position for virtuosic display in Verroust's Solos is in the closing [k] themes of the fast movements. Although Verroust's k themes never approach the difficulty of those found in works like Wieniawski's Violin Concerto No. 2, they do maintain the same style, that is, diminution with sectional repeats. Surprisingly, Verroust tends towards legato in these themes, the use of extended passages in staccato being the exception. Perhaps this is because the type of oboe he used in the 1850s was one of the first on which slurring, particularly of wide downward intervals, could be assured. Certainly he would have wanted his students to be able to demonstrate this technique to the jury at the concours. It must be said that even on a modern oboe, Verroust's slurring demands can be quite trying.

Verroust's interest in simple structures throughout these Solos seems to indicate that he did not care to work in the more complex medium of the complete ritornello sonata form, as Gustave Vogt had done in his first seven oboe concertos. It was perhaps the constraints of time imposed by the concours that made complexity impracticable. In the first movement of the 12ème Solo, Verroust did show that he could hanthe the more usual version of the French Romantic style, if necessary. Here, for the first time, he included a second theme in Ritornello I, and here he also included a Ritornello II, rather than just a transition to the second movement. Still, this is a rather short movement in comparison to that found in Henryk Wieniawski's Violin Concerto No. 2 which follows the same general outline.

In light of François Fétis' remarks concerning Verroust's demise from alcoholism,[34] it is all the more remarkable that the concertos dating from his last years are so expertly conceived. Indeed the publication of two of his most ambitious concertos, the 11ème Solo de Concert, Op. 85 and the 12ème Solo de Concert, Op. 86 et Posthume, issued from the house of Richault only after Verroust's death in 1863: clearly then, Verroust must have been busy on them during that final period of his life when he was so ill.

It is the opinion of this writer that Solos 2, 4, 6, and 10 are the most important of Verroust's Concertos: Solos 2, 4, and 6 because of their wonderful finales, and 10 for its glorious slow movement. However, it must be said that because of the time limitations imposed upon them by the concours, these works are not as substantial as one might desire. The reduced number of tutti sections, due to the truncation of ritornello form, and the substitution of scherzo format for the rondo, keeps to a minimum the interplay between soloist and orchestra, so essential in a concerto. Although this is not unusual during the 19th century, oboists certainly would have been served better with works approaching the magnificence of Antonín Dvorák's Cello Concerto in B minor, Op. 104 (1895).

Performances of Verroust's Solos de Concert are quite rare at the time of this writing, probably since the oboe-piano versions of only two, Solos 3 and 4, are still in print (by Richault's successor, Costallat[35]). It was reported to the present writer at the 1988 International Double Reed Society convention in Victoria, B.C. that Elaine Douvas of the Metropolitan Opera performed the 3ème Solo de Concert in F major Op. 76 on a recent recital. In addition, the present author has performed the 4ème Solo de Concert in D minor Op. 77[36] on several occasions. It is hoped that still more performing artists will take up these twelve significant contributions from the 19th century and help find a place for the most beautiful among them in our concerto repertory.

The reproduction of excerpts from Stanislas Verroust's series of twelve Solos de Concert was made available for this article through the courtesy of Prof. Catherine Massip, Director of the Departement de la Musique of the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris.

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Beethoven, Ludwig van. Piano Concerto No. 4 in G Major, Op. 58. Reprinted from Ludwig van Beethoven Werke of 1865. Mineola NY: Dover Publications, 1983.

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Conrey, George A. "The Paris Conservatory: Its Oboe Professors, Laureates (1795-1984). " Journal of the International Double Reed Society XIV (1986): 7-17.

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Fétis, François-Joseph. Biographie Universelle des Musiciens. Paris: Firmin-Didot, 2nd ed., 8 vol., 1860-1865, supplement (by Pougin), 2 vol., 1878 & 1880.

Finkelman, Michael. "A Study of the English Hom and Other Lower Oboes in the Classical and Early Romantic Eras." Masters thesis, Antioch University International, 1983.

Kristine Klopferstein Fletcher. The Paris Conservatoire and the Contest Solos for Bassoon. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1988.

Grove Dictionary of Music, The New. Ed. Stanley Sadie. London: MacMillan, 1980.

Haag, Charles Robert. "The Keyboard Concertos of Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach." Ph.D. dissertation, University of California at Los Angeles, 1956.

Hopkinson, Cecil. A Dictionary of Parisian Music Publishers 1700-1950. London: (Printed for the author), 1954.

Hosek, Miroslav. Oboen-Bibliographie I. Wilhelmshaven: Heinrichshofen, 1975.

Lehrer, Charles-David. "The Repertory of the Oboe Soloist in the 19th Century: The Hidden Structure." Journal of the International Double Reed Society XII (1984): 3-13.

Lehrer, Charles-David. "The Evolution of the First Movement Structure in the 18th Century Oboe Concerto." Journal of the International Double Reed Society XIV (1986): 76-87.

Lehrer, Charles-David. "Ile Rondo Finale: An Alternative to Ritornello Form in the Late 18th Century Oboe Concerto and its Descendents." Journal of the International Double Reed Society XV (1987): 72-82.

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1. In Verroust's time this great repository was known as the Bibliothèque Imperiale.

2. Solos 4 through 7 are not imprinted with a date, but the card catalogue at the Bibliothèque Nationale gives the year of 1859 for both Solos 4 and 6. One may surmise that Solo 5, standing between Solos 4 and 6, was also sent over at that time particularly since Solo 5 (13337. R.) is only one number removed from Solo 6 (13338. R.) in the Richault catalogue. There is at present no way of knowing for certain whether Solo 7 arrived at the Bibliothèque Nationale in 1859 or 1860.

3. Charles-David Lehrer, "An Introduction to the 16 Oboe Concertos of Gustave Vogt and a Discussion of the Nineteenth Century Performance Practices Preserved Within Them," Journal of the International Double Reed Society XVI (1988): 4 1.

4. Kristine Klopferstein Fletcher, The Paris Conservatoire and the Contest Solos for Bassoon (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1988).

5. There is a copy of this catalogue in the Deutsche Staatsbibliothek, East Berlin, under the call number RK2-B15.

6. Notated with the Cello part.

7. The score of Vogt's 1er Solo de Concert [originally 1er Solo du hautbois] of 1840 includes the following pans in this order: Main score: Oboe Solo, Violin I, Violin II, Viola, Cello & Bass; Appendix (harmonie score): 2 Trumpets, 2 Horns, 2 Clarinets, 2 Bassoons, 3 Trombones.

8. In regard to this, Michael Finkelman reports that, in his memoirs, Berlioz mentions a small orchestra being used for the concours.

9. For line drawings and fingering charts of Triebert's Systèmes 4 and 5 see Apollon Marie Rose Barret, A Complete Method for the Oboe. (London: 1850; facsimile reprint of the 1862 edition: London: Boosey and Hawkes), pp. 14-15.

10. The present author considers the rondo finale of the concerto to be a type of ritornello form. An overlay of sonata form, simpler than that found in the first movement, can also occur in the finale as follows:

Rondeau I Exposition: Theme 1
Couplet I Exposition: Themes 2 and 2k (dominant)
Rondeau II Exposition: Theme 1
Couplet II Development
Rondeau III Recapitulation: Theme 1
Couplet III Recapitulation: Themes 2 and 2k (tonic)
Rondeau IV Recapitulation: Theme 1

11. This concerto is subtitled "In modo di scena cantante".

12. Hector Berlioz' Symphonie Fantastique (1830-3 1), is a celebrated example maintaining cyclic procedures which appeared during this same period, to be exact, a year after the premiere of the Molique Oboe Concerto. Although Berlioz had probably not heard the piece, cyclic construction was certainly in the air.

13. The fermatas placed in the Bellini Concerto to indicate where the soloist is to improvise the recitativo do not exist in the Donizetti Concertino. Instead, the composer has simply indicated one place for the improvisation: this is after the opening orchestral ritornello where one measure (23) is filled with a whole note. Today's performers interpret this note simply as a messa di voce.

14. Hummel's slow movement begins with motivic material derived from the recitativo style of the day!

15. Like the Liszt example, Camille Saint-Saëns' Piano Concerto No. 4 (c. 1875), also a cyclic concerto, includes a scherzo after the slow movement.

16. This work is Vogt's ninth oboe concerto.

17. The use of multiplicity of closing themes by Vogt can be traced back to the "father" of the French Violin School, Jean-Baptiste Viotti. These can be clearly observed in the first movement of his Violin Concerto No. 18 in E Minor 1792) where Theme 2 carries six such themes, many of which are immediately repeated.

18. Published in 1974 by Musica Rara, London, as MR 1656.

19. Marie, Vicomtesse de Grandval (1830-1907) was a student of Camille Saint-Saëns.

20. The third movement of Liszt's Piano Concerto No. 1 (published 1857) is a scherzo.

21. The third movement of Saint-Saëns' Piano Concerto No. 4 (1875) is a scherzo.

22. Thanks to the efforts of Vogt's student, Auguste Bruyant, six of Vogt's concerti were published by the House of Richault. In this format they are also known as Solos de Concert and were issued from 1876 to 1890. This was shortly after Vogt's death in 1870, and quite some time after the demise of Verroust which had occurred in 1863. In fact, the first three of Vogt's six Solos de Concert appeared in print, during the time Charles Colin (1832-81) was Professor of Oboe at the Conservatoire (1868-1881). Colin also produced eight Solos de concours of his own. Among Vogt's six Solos, numbers 1, 2, 5, and 6 are concertos cast in the French Romantic style.

23. Also composed in the Scena Style is Verroust's Souvenir of Old Quebec, found on page 74 of Albert J. Andraud's The Oboist's Concert Album published by Southern Music Company.

24. The 9ème Solo presents the second movement in the relative minor, reflecting the usual 19th century fascination with the relationship of the third. It is surprising that parallel key relationships in the Verroust concertos far outweigh this idea which was so strong in the concertos of Verroust's teacher, Gustave Vogt. Verroust's 5ème Solo omits the slow movement and proceeds directly to the finale in the parallel major. Solo 12 omits the rounding of the binary form in the second movement.

25. Gustave Vogt referred to this structure as a rondo in his 1er Solo de Concert of 1840, and also later in his 5ème Solo de Concert.

26. It is Theme la from the first movement of Gustave Vogt's 4e Concerto that is utilized here by Verroust. See Example 3.

27. The score in the Bibliothèque Nationale: Ms. 16732 is dated May 1840. The title page reads:

28. The original text reads: "Ce morceau ayant ete compose pour le concours de 1840 il m'a fallu le faire court; cequi [est maintenant] ecrit est pour developper d'avantage le dernier morceau, pour executer ce morceau dans un concert; il faut placer cette coda a la 4me mesure apres le dernier point d'orgue."

29. Vogt must mean the Ist fermata in the entire composition, as there is only one to be found in the final movement at this point.

30. Exceptions are found in Aria I of the 2ème Solo which is in the relative minor and the 11ème Solo which puts Aria II in the relative major. The 1er Solo sets Aria II as modulating allegro which moves from I to V.

31. Verroust succeeded Henri Brod as first oboe of the Opera upon the latter's death in 1839.

32. One cannot help notice that Verroust has derived the principal theme of the first movement of his 4ème Solo de Concert from the principal theme of the first movement of Gustave Vogt's 4e Concerto.

33. New secondary themes for the soloist had already had a substantial history. Those found in the later piano concerti of Mozart are especially interesting.

34. François-Joseph Fétis, "Louis- Stanislas-Xavier Verroust," Biographie Universelle des Musiciens, VIII: 331-32.

35. Editions Costallat: Lucien de Lacour, Editeur de Musique, 60 Rue de la Chaussee d'Antin, Paris.

36. This is the version found on page 26 of Albert J. Andraud's The Oboist's Concert Album, to which I added even more cadenzas. For some unknown reason, Andraud has removed the Introductory B theme from Section A in the third movement.

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