Concerto pour piano, Op. 13 (1932) Józef Koffler

Concerto pour piano, Op. 13 (1932)

Orchestral Works, Work with Opus Number

Instrumentation: 2 flutes (large and small), 2 oboes (2nd also English Horn), 2 B clarinets, 2 bassoons (2nd also contrabassoon), 2 F horns, 2 C trumpets, 2 tenor trombones, tuba, string quintet, percussion (2 players): timpani, bass drum, cymbals, glockenspiel, xylophone, small drum, triangle (6), tam-tam

Dedication: à Leopold Muenzer

Manuscript: AdK. Call Number: Hno 17/74/227.

Premiere: No data available

Movements: I. Toccata; II. Nocturne; III. Krakowiak

I. Toccata

II. Noctume

III. Krakowiak

Performers: Jerzy Semkow Polish Sinfonia Iuventus Orchestra, Krzysztof Słowiński – conductor, Daniel Wnukowski – piano
Warsaw Music Encounters 2016

Composed in January 1932, it consists of three movements: Toccata, Notturno, and Krakowiak.

It was written for Koffler’s friend and eminent pianist Leopold Münzer. The Concerto is one of those works that were most likely never performed in the composer’s lifetime. He nevertheless evidently attempted to attract Hermann Scherchen’s attention to this piece since its manuscript copy was found by Gołąb in the conductor’s personal collection (now at the archive of the Berlin Akademie der Künste).

Józef Koffler, Piano Concerto op. 13, mvt. I. Toccata. From the collections of the Akademie der Künste, Berlin, Musikarchiv, call number Scherchen 2023

Józef Koffler, Piano Concerto op. 13, mvt. II. Nocturno. From the collections of the Akademie der Künste, Berlin, Musikarchiv, call number Scherchen 2023

Józef Koffler, Piano Concerto op. 13, mvt. III. Krakowiak. From the collections of the Akademie der Künste, Berlin, Musikarchiv, call number Scherchen 2023

Józef Koffler, Piano Concerto op. 13, mvt. I. Toccata. From the collections of the Akademie der Künste, Berlin, Musikarchiv, call number Scherchen 2023

Józef Koffler, Piano Concerto op. 13, mvt. II. Nocturno. From the collections of the Akademie der Künste, Berlin, Musikarchiv, call number Scherchen 2023

Józef Koffler, Piano Concerto op. 13, mvt. III. Krakowiak. From the collections of the Akademie der Künste, Berlin, Musikarchiv, call number Scherchen 2023

Józef Koffler, Piano Concerto op. 13, mvt. I. Toccata. From the collections of the Akademie der Künste, Berlin, Musikarchiv, call number Scherchen 2023

Józef Koffler, Piano Concerto op. 13, mvt. II. Nocturno. From the collections of the Akademie der Künste, Berlin, Musikarchiv, call number Scherchen 2023

Józef Koffler, Piano Concerto op. 13, mvt. III. Krakowiak. From the collections of the Akademie der Künste, Berlin, Musikarchiv, call number Scherchen 2023

The first movement features an interesting fusion of the sonata form and a toccata with figurations.

John Daniskas, Modern Piano Composers and Their Works. Karol Szymanowski and the Young Polish School, Caecilia en De muziek, 7 (1935), p. 267

Gołąb (p. 108) claims that Koffler used Robert Schumann’s Toccata, Op. 7 as his formal model in this piece. The slow movement of the Piano Concerto draws, in turn, on the early Romantic nocturne (with a recapitulation segment). The final Krakowiak is a classical ABACABA rondo and a reference to the Chopin tradition. All the Neoclassical elements are coupled with the use of strict twelve-note composition method. The work was briefly discussed by John Daniskas in a Dutch journal (‘Moderne pianocomponisten en hun werken. Karol Szymanowski en de jonge Poolsche school’, Caecilia en De muziek, 7 (1935), 267). Daniskas notated the main motifs of movement one and hailed this piece as the most important one in Koffler’s output of piano music.