Dittersdorf, Carl Ditters von (1739-1799)

The present work was composed no later than 1761, the date Rajhrad Monastery acquired the copy now preserved in the Moravské Muzeum in Brno. Judging from the number of extant copies this symphony enjoyed a high level of popularity during the 1760s. By the time Breitkopf advertised the work for sale (1769) Dittersdorf was regarded throughout Europe as a composer of major consequence. 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-39 / A- 3498. The title wrapper reads: ' In E / Sinfonia piu Stromenti. / con / 2 Violini / 2 Corni. / Viola / e / Basso / Del Sigre Carlo Dittrs [sic]' 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