Pichl, Wenzel (1741-1805)

Clio was composed in 1768. Unlike Erato and Euterpe who have strong associations with musical instruments (lyre and flute), Clio, the Muse of History, is not associated immediately with music. Perhaps the only allusion Pichl makes to history is in the marvellous canonic Andante whose learned counterpoint surely is intended to conjure up images of the past. For the rest, Clio is a thoroughly modern four-movement symphony in the Viennese style and it predictably shows strong stylistic influences from Ditters. This edition is based on a set of MS parts preserved in the Biblioteca Estense in Modena under the shelfmark D 326. The wrapper reads: Clio / In E duro / Sinfonia / a / 2 Violini 2 Oboe / 2 Corni In E / Viola / e / Basso./ Del Sigre: 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