Dittersdorf, Carl Ditters von: Symphony in B flat major (Grave Bb5) (AE137)

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 although it did not appear in the Breitkopf Catalogue until 1770. This edition is based on a set of manuscript parts held in the music archive of Stift Kremsmnster in Austria under the shelfmark Ser. H Fasc. 34 Nr. 3 1 3 . The title wrapper reads 'Sinfonia in b. / a / 2 Violini, / 2 Oboe, / 2 Corni, / Viola con Basso, / Del Siglre: Carlo Ditters.' The parts are all in the same untidy hand and are clearly not the work of a professional copyist. 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 Kremsmnster 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