Wanhal, Johann Baptist (1739-1813)

The present work dates from the late 1760s and although few sources survive its contemporary popularity can be attested to by its publication in London (ca 1775) as part of Bremner's Periodical Overture series. The symphony was also advertised in Supplement V (1770) of the Breitkopf Catalogue. The source upon which this edition is based is the sole-surviving manuscript copy, dated 1769, and preserved in the Archbishopric Castle Music Archive Kromeriz under the shelfmark IV-A 344 / A3799. The title wrapper reads: " Synfonia in B. / a / Violino Imo Dopl / Violino 2do Dopl / Due Oboe / Dui Corni / Viola / e / Basso Dopl / Del Sigre Wanhal". In the absence of the autograph score and an authentic set of parts the edition presents as faithfully as possible the intentions of the composer as transmitted in this source. The notation of articulation and dynamic markings has 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 inconsistent in its notation of appoggiature; these have also been standardised to minimise confusion. Any editorial emendation with no authority from the source is placed within brackets. Allan Badley