Jena Symphony

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The so-called Jena Symphony in C major is a symphony by Friedrich Witt (1770–1836).

History (find and attribution)

The Jena Symphony was discovered in 1909 by the musicologist and theologian Fritz Stein in the Jena University Library. She initially attributed this to the young Beethoven , as one of the voices found could read the second violin par Louis van Beethoven . This assumption was supported by a statement by Beethoven that he had once attempted a symphony in C major based on the model of Symphony No. 97 by Joseph Haydn . And the symphony found in Jena actually showed similarities with this London work by Haydn.

For half a century it was subsequently played under Beethoven's name. Max Reger arranged this symphony for piano four hands and musicology dealt critically with the work: Although it was disputed whether the work really came from Beethoven, it was generally acknowledged to be of high quality.

It was not until 1968 that HC Robbins Landon succeeded in proving that the symphony was a work by Friedrich Witt when he found another copy of the symphony in the archives of Göttweig Abbey , which Witt himself signed. The symphony was published in print by Breitkopf & Härtel in 1911 .

Since it became known that this symphony did not come from Beethoven, it has been performed far less than before.

analysis

  • 1st movement: Adagio - Allegro vivace
  • 2nd movement: Adagio cantabile
  • 3rd movement: Menuetto maestoso
  • 4th movement: Allegro

Orchestra instrumentation: 1 flute, 2 oboes, 2 bassoons, 2 horns in C, 2 trumpets in C, timpani (C and G), strings.

The first movement begins with a 20-bar Adagio introduction, followed by the Allegro vivace in sonata main movement form with a mostly three-bar theme group and a second theme that is more dance-like. The exposure is repeated. The development ends after only 30 bars with a crescendo and leads directly to the recapitulation.

The middle part of the second movement in F major is in F minor . The timpani are also used in this movement, the tuning of which in C and G remains the same for all movements.

The third movement is a minuet with a trio.

The fourth movement begins piano . The shaping of the wind parts in this movement led the scholars to believe before Robbins Landon's discovery that the work was actually written by Beethoven.

Recordings

literature

  • David Ewen: Encyclopedia of Concert Music. Hill and Wand, New York 1959.
  • Stephen C. Fischer: The affair of the "Jena symphony" (Them. Index 14). Garland Publishing, New York / London 1983. xvi
  • HC Robbins Landon: The 'Jena' Symphony. Music Review, 1957; reprinted in Essays on the Viennese Classical Style. Macmillan New York 1970.
  • Charles O'Connell: The Victor Book of Symphonies. Simon & Schuster, New York 1948, pp. 83-86.
  • Ralph Leavis: The 'Beethovenianisms' of the Jena Symphony, Die Musikforschung XXIII (1970) pp. 297–302.
  • Robert Simpson: Observations on the 'Jena' symphony, The music survey II. 1949/1950, pp. 155-160.
  • Fritz Stein: Preface to 1911 printing of Jena Symphony. Breitkopf & Härtel, Berlin 1911.
  • Fritz Stein: On the problem of the “Jena Symphony”. Report on the seventh international musicological congress in Cologne 1958. Bärenreiter, Kassel 1959, pp. 279–281.

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