Dussek, Franz Xaver: Symphony in E flat major (Altner Eb3) (AE073)

Dussek, Franz Xaver (1731-1799)

The present work, like the majority of Dussek's symphonies, cannot be dated with any certainty and survives in a single source, in this case, a set of MS parts formerly belonging to Count Clam-Gallas and now in the possession of the Národní Muzeum in Prague (shelfmark Clam-Gallas XLII E 128). The wrapper reads :"No 13 / Sinfonia in Dis / a /Due Violini / Due Oboi / Due Corni in Dis / Viola di Alto / con / Basso, ed Fagotto / Del Sig: Franc: Duschek". The bassoon doubles the bass-line throughout except in eight bars in the second half of the Trio where it accompanies the two horns while the cellos and basses remain silent. The bassoon solo is indicated by the cue fagotto; no separate bassoon part survives. Bars 1-64 in the fourth movement are missing from the viola part. 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 style and notation of articulation and dynamic markings have been standardised throughout, and, where missing from the source, markings reconstructed from parallel passages. These are indicated by the use of dotted slurs or brackets. Like most eighteenth-century sources, the present manuscript is very 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