Concerto in G minor

Antonio Lotti’s surviving instrumental compositions are very few. Best known is an oboe d’amore concerto in A major, until now his sole identified work in the concerto genre. Now another concerto by him, this time for ordinary oboe, has turned up in Lund, Sweden. The manuscript parts are anonymous, but Lotti’s authorship is proved, first, by the fact that all three movements are arrangements of arias for soprano appearing in two of his operas written for Dresden and, second, by the fact that the use of da capo aria form for all three movements links the new concerto directly to Lotti’s oboe d’amore concerto, which may well be a similar pasticcio. The new G minor concerto, more lyrical than virtuosic in character, is every bit as attractive as its A-major counterpart and deserves to become an essential part of the baroque repertoire for the oboe.