Pichl, Wenzel (1741-1805)

Unlike Erato and Euterpe who have strong associations with musical instruments (lyre and flute), Calliope, the Muse of Epic Poetry, is not immediately associated with music in spite of the ancient bardic tradition. Pichl's Calliope is the most heavily-scored of the 'classical' symphonies: only Mars, predictably, is larger with flute, oboes, bassoons, horns, trumpets, timpani and strings. The weight of orchestration and the employment of a portentous slow introduction to the first movement - the first of Pichl's symphonies to open in this manner - do bring to this symphony something of an epic quality. Nonetheless it may be significant that whereas Breitkopf advertised by name the symphonies Terpsichore, Euterpe and Uranie, the present work is untitled and appears alongside several other works by the composer including Diana and Melpomene. This edition is based on a set of MS parts preserved in the Biblioteca Estense in Modena under the shelfmark D 328. The wrapper reads: Calliope / In C / Sinfonia / a piu Stromenti / A / 2 Violini, 2 Oboe Oblig. / Flauto Traverso in Andan: ad libitum / 2 Corni, 2 Clarini / Tmpani Viola } in C. / e / Basso. / Del Sig.Wenceslao Pichl.

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 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. Like most eighteenth century sources, the present manuscript is 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