Dittersdorf, Carl Ditters von (1739-1799)

The present work was composed in 1788. Two autograph scores of the work are extant although one of them, now preserved in the Sächsische Landesbibliothek in Dresden, has been severely damaged by water. As is the case with a number of Dittersdorf's later symphonies the orchestral forces as expanded to include flutes, bassoons, trumpets and timpani as well as the customary oboes and horns. 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-66 / A-3522. The title wrapper reads: '38 / Sinfonia in D / / Violini due. / Oboe due. /Travsersi due. / Fagotti due / Corni due / Clarini due /Viole / Timpani / Basso, /di Carlo de Dittersdorf://:' 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