Dittersdorf, Carl Ditters von (1739-1799)

The present work was probably composed during the period ca 1773-1779. This dating is made on stylistic grounds in the absence of external corroborative evidence. Five copies of the work are known to survive which is about average for Dittersdorf 's symphonies but its absence from contemporary thematic catalogues suggests that it was not as widely disseminated as many of the composer's other symphonies. This edition is based on a set of manuscript parts held in the Archbishopric Castle Music Archive at Kromeriz (Czech Republic) under the shelfmark IV-A-51 / A-3509. The title wrapper reads: '23 / Sinfonia in D / / Violini due. / Oboe due. / Flauto, , Fagotto con And: / Corni due. / Clarini due. /Timpani. / Viole due. / col / Basso. / Di Carlo de Dittersdorf.' 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 Kromeriz source. The style and notation of articulation and dynamic markings have been standardized 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 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