Omaha oboist takes shine to composer’s lyricism

Omaha Symphony oboist Alexandra Rock hopes Albinoni finally gets his due.

“He’s written so much beautiful music,” said Rock, who performs an Albinoni concerto this weekend with the Omaha Symphony. “It’s unfair that he’s mostly known for a piece he didn’t write.”

Rock is talking about the Adagio in G minor, a plaintive piece often attributed to the 18th-century Italian composer Tomaso Albinoni and included on many Baroque greatest hits albums.

The Adagio, however, was actually composed by the 20th-century musicologist Remo Giazotto.

Giazotto supposedly found a charred fragment of an Albinoni manuscript in the ruins of Dresden State Library, which was firebombed during World War II. Many of Albinoni’s scores had been stored in that library.

For years it was speculated that Giazotto based his piece on a fragment of Albinoni’s music. It’s now widely accepted that Giazotto composed the entire piece himself.

Not that Albinoni needed any help.

During his long life –– he was born in 1671 and died in 1751 –– Albinoni composed at least 100 sonatas, 55 operas and 50 concertos. Albinoni is especially revered for his oboe concertos, which are defined by their elegance and appealing lyricism.

Rock picked the Concerto in C major for her performance.

“The interplay between oboe and strings in that concerto is especially beautiful,” Rock said. “Albinoni knew how to make the entire orchestra sparkle.”

Contact the writer:

444-1076, john.pitcher@owh.com

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