Konzert für Violoncello und Orchester d-Moll

This concerto was first performed on 9 December 1877, in one of the Concerts populaires given at the so-called Cirque d'hiver in Paris under the direction of Jules Pasdeloup and with Adolphe Fischer (1847-1891) as the soloist. The basis for the subsequent orchestration must have been the earliest surviving source, the unfortunately undated autograph piano reduction. Lalo, who had studied composition with the cellist Pierre Baumann in Lille and was undoubtedly familiar with the rudiments of cello playing, had presumably made at least a partial sketch of the solo part beforehand, but nothing of this has survived. Aside from corrections made immediately after he had written the piano reduction, this piano-cello score has three further layers of changes (see the "Revisionsbericht" for more detailed information), some of which are possibly due to suggestions made by Fischer. - Preface.