The story behind the “Haydn Oboe Concerto in C” is interesting. It first came to light in 1926, when it was published by Breitkopf & Härtel. The edition was based on the only extant copy of a manuscript held in Zittau (Saxony), to which the word “Haydn” had been added by a different and later hand. In spite of continuing efforts, musicologists have yet to disprove this attribution.

It was not until the 1950’s that Anthony van Hoboken, a Dutch enthusiast, created the first complete catalog of Haydn’s works. In the interim, so many records have been lost or destroyed that scholars have often been left to guess at a particular work’s provenance, using clues such as musical style or thematic relationships to deduce whether it is authentic and who the true composer might have been.

The concerto isn’t found in either the Entwurf Katalog or Haydn Verzeichnis (both of which the composer prepared). The distinguished Haydn scholar H.C. Robbins Landon states that the concerto “is certainly not by Haydn, but an attractive and bright work by a good minor master.” The Haynes Catalog of Oboe Music by Peter Wuttke attributes the composition to Ignaz Malzat (1757-1804).

In addition to the soloist, the score requires pairs of oboes, horns, trumpets, timpani and the usual strings.