Dittersdorf, Carl Ditters von (1739-1799)

On the basis of an entry in the Sigmaringen Catalogue the present work was composed not later than 1766 although it did not appear in the Breitkopf Catalogue until 1771. The original scoring of the work was probably as it stands here although two sources include clarini and timpani as did the lost Sigmaringen copy. The work was evidently popular and was issued on at least two occasions by publishers in London and Lige. This edition is based on a set of manuscript parts held in the music archive of Stift Kremsmnster in Austria under the shelfmark Ser. H Fasc. 34 Nr.316. The title wrapper reads 'Sinfonia in C. / a / 2. Violini. / Viola. / 2. Oboe. / 2. Corni. / Violone / Del Sign. Ditters.' 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 Kremsmnster source. The style and notation of articulation and dynamic markings have been standardised throughout and, where missing from the source, markings have been reconstructed from parallel passages. These are indicated by the use of dotted slurs or brackets where appropriate. Like most eighteenth-century sources, the present manuscript is at times inconsistent in its notation of appoggiature; these too have been standardised to minimise confusion. Obvious wrong notes have been corrected without comment; editorial emendations with no authority from the source are placed within brackets. Allan Badley