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Oboists and bassoonists looking for a sensational concerto to play together with orchestra, certainly have it in this Sinfonia Concertante composed by Georg Feldmayr (1756-c.1818). The work includes two flutes and two horns in addition to the usual chamber string ensemble. The aforementioned wind band plays a significant role in presenting the thematic materials of the first movement in particular.

The structure of the overall work contains the usual Classic Era composite insofar as the outer movements are concerned. The first movement is set in ritornello-sonata form, while the finale is a rondeau with three couplets. The central Romance is most unusual. One associates this style of music with the French opéra comique, and Feldmayr delivers many aspects of the real article insofar as line and harmony are concerned. The structure, on the other hand, is not the expected strophic melody with variations, but a clever sonata form masquerading as a rondeau. One only wishes this lovely movement were longer.

The source manuscript, which comes from the Öttingen-Wallerstein collection, is an autograph full score composed about 1790. Feldmayr's calligraphy is neat and careful, with the exception of slurs, which tend to be quite general at times, and difficult for the modern musician to delineate. Dynamics are plentiful, and the composer has a special love for rinforzando (rfz). But the player must be wary of its meaning: at times rfz means to reinforce the line, i.e. play one dynamic higher, but it can also mean crescendo or sforzando. Context will determine which route the performers must take.

The horns crooked in C for the outer movements present a special problem, as they appear to sound at notated pitch. One can only surmise that a special alto C crook was available to Feldmayr's horn players since Bb alto was the usual high crook in the Classic Era.

Georg Feldmeyer, was a member of the Hofkapelle at Schloss Wallerstein, center of the diminutive Öttingen-Wallerstein princedom. Here, a most-important ensemble of wind players was maintained by Count Philipp Karl (1745-1766) and later by Count Kraft Ernst (1773-1802) who became Prince Kraft Ernst in 1734. It was he who brought to his court the cellist Josef Reicha, and the oboist Joseph Fiala, the latter in 1774.  By 1784 the concerts heard at Schloss Wallerstein were said to be incomparable.