Pleyel, Ignaz: Symphony in C minor (Benton 121) (AE179)

Pleyel, Ignaz (1757-1831)

The present work was composed in 1778 and was printed in Paris by Pleyel's principal publisher Imbault in 1787 as '3e / SINFONIE / PRIODIQUE / A deux Violons Alto et Basse / Cors et Hautbois ad Libitum / Compose / par / Mr Ignace Pleyel / Matre de Chapelle de la Cathdrale de Strasbourg...' Like a number of other Pleyel symphonies this work was issued in arrangements by several publishers. Duo arrangements exist for violins and keyboard with either woodwind or string accompaniment. As one would expect, the work bears strong traces of Haydn's influence particularly in its vigorous, muscular outer movements. This edition is based on a copy of the Imbault print preserved in the Bibliothque du Conservatoire Royal de Musique, Brussels, under the shelfmark W 7796. Imbault's edition is for the most part carefully engraved although there are inevitably some errors and inconsistencies. The notation of articulation and dynamic markings has been standardised throughout, and, where missing, 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 print is inconsistent at times in its notation of appoggiature; these have also been standardised to minimise confusion. Obvious wrong notes have been silently corrected; otherwise, any editorial emendation with no authority from the source is placed within brackets. Allan Badley