The set of six concertos that include this B-flat major work were widely performed and admired for well over two centuries before the identity of their author became known. The composer, a Dutch Nobleman named Unico Wilhelm Van Wassenaer, was himself responsible for the mystery: he would only agree to allow the concertos to be published on the condition that his identity remain anonymous. The reason for his secretiveness remains a mystery. Certainly other noblemen and monarchs, including King Frederick the Great of Prussia, proudly displayed their musical talents with no inhibitions whatsoever.

When the concertos appeared in 1740 they were attributed to a "distinguished gentleman." The dedication (to Willem, Graff Bentinck, a childhood friend of Wassenaer) was written by Carlo Ricciotti, an Italian violinist who would later become director of the French opera company in The Hague. By 1755 a new edition appeared in London, with Ricciotti now listed as the composer.

By the 19th century, the concertos were renamed "concertinos" and attributed to the 18th century Italian composer Giovanni Battista Pergolesi (1710-1736) — most likely because Pergolesi's name on a score guaranteed it would sell well, rather than through any genuine misunderstanding about the authorship of the music. It was this edition that the Library of Congress purchased in 1908. When Igor Stravinsky was assembling music he thought had been written by Pergolesi for use in his ballet Pulcinella, he turned to this edition of the score, selecting the final movement of the B-flat concerto for the basis of the ballet's tarantella movement.

It was not until 1979 that the true author of the concertos was identified. Musicologist Albert Dunning happened to be dining with some Dutch art historians when one of them mentioned that while he was creating an inventory of the Twickel castle in The Netherlands he had recently found several musical manuscripts. These turned out to be the autograph scores of the six Concerti Armonici — in the handwriting of Count Unico Wilhelm.

© 2003 Jeff Eldridge