Buchner, F :: Concerto in F minor, op. 38

Ferdinand Buchner was born in Pyrmont near Waldeck, Germany in 1823. He began to study the flute at an early age, under the guidance of his father who was an excellent flutist, and later studied with the famous flutist C. Heinemeyer. At the tender age of 13, Buchner gave his first public performance in London (1838), where he met with great success and demonstrated the extraordinary skills which were always to be characteristic of his future activities as an artist. Buchner stayed in Hanover for a few years to study Heinemeyer's flute-playing technique. During this time he also dealt with the theory of harmony and the technique of instrumentation and enlarged his general musical knowledge. He completed his studies in 1847, when an engagement took him to Berlin.

Buchner stayed for three years in Berlin and was immediately appreciated, both by the public and the most popular musicians. In 1850 he traveled to Russia and actively participated in the musical scene in St. Petersburg during the six years that followed. At that time, St. Petersburg was a lively centre of artistic activities and a place where plenty of concert tours were organized.

In 1856 Buchner was offered the position of solo flutist at the Imperial Theatre in Moscow. The benefits and chances provided by such a position convinced him to seize this opportunity. His solo performances were highly regarded as beautiful and artistically ingenious because he knew how to combine a round and warm sound with both technical excellence and an elegant and well-devised interpretation. Buchner held this position with increasing success until shortly before his death is 1906.

In Russia Buchner won himself a reputation as an excellent soloist and teacher, so that he was appointed flute teacher to the Moscow Conservatory founded by Anton Rubinstein.

Following the romantic tradition of virtuoso musicians who also worked as composers, Ferdinand Buchner wrote numerous pieces for the flute, including eight concertos, published at that time by Zimmermann music publishers in Leipzig, as well as a series of etudes. His version of six etudes for solo flute by Frederic Chopin is quite remarkable. Together with similar transcriptions by Giulio Briccialdi it represents some of the first examples of arrangements for solo flute based on works by Chopin. Additional transcriptions were later written by J. Lafleurance and M. Moyse.

The first Concerto in f minor op. 38, dedicated to Julius Heinrich Zimmermann, is considered a masterpiece and one of the most beautiful flute concertos ever composed. Unfortunately, the original score was lost during World War II, but Claudio Felice Sedazzari has created a new instrumentation of this work for full orchestra. Thus, one of the greatest masterpieces of flute literature has again been made available to the public in a complete version. For the print of the first edition a few obvious engraving mistakes in the original were corrected, and bar numbers were added for practical reasons.