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. It was advertised the following year in the Breitkopf 's thematic catalogue and thereafter seems to have circulated as widely as most of the composer's other symphonies of the period. 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-38 / A-3497. The title wrapper reads: ' in F: / Sinfonia: /a: / 2 Violini: / 2 Oboe: 2 Corni: / Viola e Basso: / Del Sig nor Carlo 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 Kromeriz 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