The odd one out round

[Alan Howe]

what city in the USA (in the 20th century)

I'll allow this question, but let's keep quizzes relevant to UC, please.

[Gauk]

It would be Louisville, I guess.

[TerraEpon]

(bah, forum eating my post)
I'd guess New York, especially with other subtitles relating to it (Big Apple, etc)

How about the first symphony to be named after a fictional character? I have my guess (and very relevant to UC) but we'll see.

[Gauk]

How about the first symphony to be named after a fictional character? I have my guess (and very relevant to UC) but we'll see.

As the question stands, the answer is certainly to be found in the pre-romantic era, since all the gods and heroes of classical myth and legend are fictional characters. So works like Dittersdorf's "Fall of Phaeton" symphony would qualify.

[eschiss1]

Hrm. I was thinking Louisville... anyway. Fictional but not "mythological", and Romantic-era? Either one of the works associated with Faust or Dante (e.g. Liszt or Pacini's symphonies thereon), or earlier still...

[Alan Howe]

Haydn Symphony 43 (1771) "Mercury"? Actually - it may not count, as the title seems to date from the 19th C.

[eschiss1]

That would beat the Dittersdorf by a decade even if so... but I'm sure one could go even further back...

[Alan Howe]

I'm sure the answer lies way before UC's period, but any more offers?

[JimL]

Dittersdorf would be a good bet.  He was actually a pioneering figure in many ways, whose contributions to music are just starting to be recognized and still waaaaaaaaaay underappreciated.

[eschiss1]

However! Pichl's Diana and similar symphonies were published in the late 1760s... predating Haydn's 43rd symphony (whatever the provenance of its nickname) and predating Dittersdorf's 1781 Metamorphoses symphonies as well. (Pichl also "beats out" Mozart in composing one of the first string trios to use a viola I think- not sure... - not that his is remotely comparable to Mozart's K.563 "Divertimento" (I think- I'm not sure if I have or haven't seen/heard Pichl's trio, yet, though the Mozart work is a hard work to be anywhere near comparable to.)

[Alan Howe]

Well done, Eric. Any more contenders?

[JimL]

I don't mind topics addressing issues outside of the remit of this forum in the pre- rather than post- direction, provided they are entirely relevant to subjects within the remit of this forum, such as symphonies with extra-musical associations.  Tracing historical precedents is an entirely appropriate subject of discussion.

[Alan Howe]

It's OK provided that the law of infinite regression doesn't assert itself...

[semloh]

Well, you all beat me hands down.... as far as romantic symphonies go, all I could think of was Gliere's Ilya Murometz! 

[Gareth Vaughan]

Going back to symphonies titled after places, specifically places in the UK and specifically by British composers, I think we should not overlook Stanley Wilson's "Skye" Symphony which won a Carnegie Trust Award in 1927 - and deserves a revival.  (There is also McEwen's "Solway" Symphony, which has been recorded.)