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Leopold Hofmann (1738-1793) was born in Vienna and held a number of important positions there, including several appointments to the Court of the Emperor. As a contemporary of Franz Joseph Haydn (who bore a personal grudge against him), Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, and Carlo Besozzi, Hofmann's style is typical of the period which preceded Mozart's appearance in the imperial city. In contrast to the Baroque Era, the texture of music in this so-called Preclassic Era is extraordinarily homophonic and intricately embellished. Inner voices in this style seem to have been composed almost as an afterthought. The 2nd violin and viola parts of Hofmann's orchestra are only occasionally independent of the 1st violin and bass lines respectively; when they are not doubling these parts at the unison or octave, they are doubling in thirds. Perhaps the most difficult aspect of this style, insofar as intonation and endurance are concerned, is the plethora of wide melodic intervals. The term Sturm und Drang has been applied as an apt description of the overall impression made by such techniques.

All three movements of Hofmann's Oboe Concerto in C Major (parts copied c. 1770) are set out in ritornello form. The first contains three solo episodes surrounded by four ritornelli. One finds the eighth note as the basic pulse here, likewise for the central slow movement which is composed of two solo episodes and three ritornelli. The exhilarating finale contains the unusual number of four solo episodes; normally one would find three as in the first movement. The tactus here is on the quarter note, which subdivides by both duplets and triplets. Both outer movements contain partial recapitulations of the initial episode at the initiation of their final episodes; but by no means is there any hint of sonata-form overlay.

The rather haphazardly-copied manuscript parts of this concerto come from the Court of the Öttingen-Wallersteins. Throughout it are found a host of trills and appoggiaturas, all of which are realized in the present edition. Also, the dozens of triplet figures originally notated as dotted 16th note followed by 32nd note, have been modified to align with 21st-century notational practice.

Several rather open spots above the bass line indicate the need for harpsichord to fill in the harmonies. I have supplied the realization at those important points, most of which occur during the episodes. In any case, I have set up the harpsichord part to play during all ritornelli: where there is no pressing need for additional harmony, I have given the right hand of the keyboard the first violin part. With the harpsichord part made up in this manner, experienced performers will be able to derive further chord changes during the ritornelli as a matter of course. In some episodes, where Hofmann supplies only 1st and 2nd violin parts above the bass, I have given the harpsichord the rubric 'tasto solo' in order that this special trio texture accompanying the oboe can be clearly heard.

I would recommend playing this work with a minimum of string players, say 3-3-2-2-1. During the episodes, this should be cut back to one on a part so that the most can be made of special trio and basso continuo textures.