Symphony op.46 (Pfitzner)

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The Symphony in C major, Op. 46, is the last of Hans Pfitzner's three symphonies and is one of the composer's late works, who wrote it in 1940. As a dedication, Pfitzner noted above the score: "To the friends."

Although the length of the roughly quarter-hour work is even shorter than the Little Symphony Op. 44 , composed the year before, Pfitzner attributed the importance of a symphony to it, which is probably due to the larger orchestral line-up and a more extroverted, “symphony-like” character associated with it op. 46 is due.

The C major symphony consists of three movements that merge attacca and thus form a large movement. The first movement ( Allegro ) is based on a heroic first and a more reserved second theme. Only the first theme is dealt with in the development; only the second is used for this in the recapitulation. An elegiac Adagio in A minor serves as the middle movement . A furious Presto runs abruptly into the calm finale of this part, which ends in the opening theme of the Allegro , with which the symphony is effectively rounded off.

The first performance of the work took place on October 11, 1940. Alongside the Palestrina auditions and the overture to Käthchen von Heilbronn , the symphony op. 46 is Pfitzner's most successful orchestral work.

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