Dittersdorf: Concerto for harp and strings

A famed composer in his time, on a par with Haydn or Mozart, the German Karl Ditters von Dittersdorf never wrote a harp concerto. But he did write five keyboard concertos. To the good fortune of hundreds of harp players worldwide, he took one of these concertos and transcribed it for harp. To this day, they thank him for it. It is their favorite. Certainly, because concertos for the instrument are not very common. Mozart made incursions into them, but with the flute sharing the leading role. There are known transcriptions of Haendel's organ works. For solo harp, stand out one by the French Boieldieu, another by Castelnuovo-Tedesco, and another by Villa-Lobos. One per musician. And Dittersdorf was the pioneer – through transcription – in the 18th century. 

 
Karl Ditters von Dittersdorf was born in Vienna in 1739, when Haydn was seven years old. By birth, he was tersely named Karl Ditters, but the twists and turns of life earned him a well-deserved title. He began his career as a violin virtuoso, and in that capacity, he strolled (that's putting it mildly) through the courts of half of Europe. In some, he served as chapel master, but unlike his contemporary Haydn, he never succeeded in gaining regular patronage in a showy court.
However, one of his lowly patrons, who once feared his departure, had to charm him with honors and titles to keep him. Thus, in 1772 Ditters became a nobleman and added the appendix "von Dittersdorf" to his surname. Despite this, he would die in poverty twenty-seven years later.

 Karl Ditters von Dittersdorf
(1739 - 1799)

A prolific composer
Dittersdorf was a prolific author of chamber music, symphonies (more than 120), and concertos, to which he added no less than 32 operas. His most creative period seems to be the one he spent with the patron prodigal in honors, to the point that he was close to entering the court of Joseph II as chapel master (hence the fears). 
In the mid-eighties (in the seventeen hundreds, of course) several of his numerous compositions became known in the most prestigious circles. In 1786 his greatest operatic success was premiered in Vienna, the singspiel "The Pharmacist and the Doctor", which was soon performed on stages all over Europe. He spent his last years writing his autobiography.

Concerto for harp and strings, in A major
The date of composition of the original keyboard concerto, the one that was transcribed for harp, is completely unknown. Even less is known about the transcription. We only know that the idea was brilliant if we remember that pianos contain in their interior a large piece that houses all their strings. That piece is called "harp". The transcription made perfect sense. One could only expect an increase in the flow of musicality, given the halo of lyricism and dreaminess that surrounds the instrument.

Movements:
In the "Vivaldian" style, a central, slow movement, is flanked by two more lively movements.

00:00  Allegro
07:22  Larghetto
16:35  Rondo - allegretto

The performance is by Spanish harpist Rosa Díaz Cotán, accompanied by the Neubrandenburger Philharmonie, conducted by the Russian conductor Daniel Stratiesvsky.