Notes for: August 2, 2022
Josef Fiala, a celebrated oboe and viola da gamba player and a skilled composer, led a peripatetic life common for a musician in the 18th century. Princes and noblemen often had their own private orchestras and employed large musical staffs, and musicians like Fiala traveled from one to another for work. Born in Bohemia, Fiala began his professional career as an oboist in the service of a countess in Prague. In 1774 he joined the wind band of Prince Kraft Ernst of Oettingen-Wallerstein. In 1777 he went to Munich to play in Elector Maximilian Joseph’s wind band. There he met and became good friends with Mozart, who helped him get his next position, with the Archbishop of Salzburg. After a stint in Vienna, in 1786 he went to St. Petersburg, where he worked in the court of Catherine the Great. Then it was on to Prussia in 1790, where he was a viola da gamba player in the court of Friedrich Wilhelm II. He made his final move in 1792 when he became Kapellmeister to Prince Furstenberg of Donaueschingen, a position he held for the rest of his life.
A prolific composer, Fiala wrote many compositions for Prince Furstenberg’s wind ensemble, including the Duo Concertante for Oboe and Bassoon. It’s an attractive duet that puts the oboist and the bassoonist through their paces while showcasing the expressive ranges of these two wind instruments. The Duo shows that Fiala not only had an ear for harmony and a mastery of form, but that he also had a sense of humor.
The oboe takes the lead in the amiable, ABA-structured Allegro assai, with the bassoon sometimes harmonizing with the oboe’s melodic line, sometimes imitating it, and often weaving elaborate embellishments around the oboe melody. In the Adagio, Fiala uses a simple harmonic structure to great effect, as the bassoon’s arpeggios and triplets support the oboe’s melody. The third-movement Allegro is a playful rondo in which oboe and bassoon egg each other on, and each gets a separate chance to show off. Amusingly, at the end of each repeat of the rondo theme, the music briefly runs out of steam. The wilting is most dramatic at the end of the last repeat, after which both instruments let loose in a final surge of high spirits.
Fun fact: Friedrich Wilhelm II honored Fiala by giving him his own family crest.