Beck, Franz (1734-1809)

The present work was published by Leclaire in 1762[?] as the first of a set of six symphonies by various authors. The title page reads ' SEI / SINFONIE / a pi stromenti / Composte / DA VARI AUTORI / 1. Beck. 4. Bod. / 2. Filtz. 5. Cannabick. / 3.Wagenseil. 6. Bach / Graves par Mme Leclaire / OPERA XIII...' Although still cast in the threemovement cycle of the earlier symphonies, the work has a greater feeling of expansiveness, particularly in the sweeping, energetic outer movements. The work may have been scored originally 8 (with oboes) but the combination of a pair of horns with strings is common enough in the pre-classical concerto to allow the scoring to stand in a symphony. Beck's handling of his slender forces is very deft and there is a flamboyance in the orchestral writing which owes much to the Mannheim traditions he grew up with.

This edition is based on a copy of the Leclair print now preserved in the Statens Musikbibliotek - The Music Library of Sweden (formerly Musikaliska Akademiens Bibliotek) - OdB-R. Although described as Sinfonia I on the title page, the individual parts are headed 'SINFONIA VII / Dell Sigr. Beck'.

The only major departure from the Leclair text is the omission of the basso continuo figuring on the grounds that it is more likely to be the work a publisher's assistant than the composer and is rendered largely superfluous by the publication of the work in full score. Otherwise, in the absence of both the autograph score and an authentic set of parts, the edition presents as faithfully as possible the intentions of the composer as transmitted in the Leclair print. The style and notation of articulation and dynamic markings have been standardized throughout and, where missing, reconstructed from parallel passages. These are indicated by the use of dotted slurs or brackets where appropriate. Like most eighteenth-century sources, the Leclair print is inconsistent in its notation of appoggiature; these too have been standardized to minimize confusion. Obvious wrong notes have been corrected without comment; editorial emendations with no authority from the source are placed within brackets.

Allan Badley