MAA 2: 1 Concerto in F Major by John Christopher Moller (1755-1803): Score

The “Concerto in F Major” by John Christopher Moller (1755-1803) is the earliest concerted work for solo instrument and orchestra to survive in complete form from the United States. It reveals much about the skill level of orchestras and solo performing artists in New York City during the 1790s and what kind of original pieces were performed by professional musicians on the American concert stage. In contrast to most of his published music from his American career, Moller’s concerto demonstrates both a continuation of its author’s craftmanship and an expansion of the compositional techniques found in his British pieces composed between c. 1775 and 1790. This work most likely was one of the concertos performed by the composer and possibly his daughter Lucy in the 1790s, attesting to her proficiency as a performer. Moller’s concerto shows that he continued to write in a German style of composition influenced by the empfindsamer Stil into the later part of the eighteenth century. It also evinces that composers in the Early Nationalist United States did not have to abandon their ethnic stylistic heritage and adopt the popular Italianate British style current in much of the urban centers of the eastern seaboard. This work further illustrates the high quality of original music introduced to the American public in its formative stage of development.