Symphony wish-list @ IMSLP

[Alan Howe]

This is not a list! Well, it is a list, but hopefully a meaningful one!

I have been consulting two sources with regard to the question of symphonies in the lead-up to Brahms, in other words symphonies in the now infamous 'Dahlhaus Gap', namely Rebecca Grotjahn's 'The Symphony in the German Cultural Realm 1850 to 1876' (title translated from the German original) and Walter Frisch's 'Brahms: the Four Symphonies'. A large number of symphonies are mentioned in these two books, so I was wondering whether a listing of those available at IMSLP might prove useful to any of our intrepid members who are capable of turning scores into invaluable, listenable computer realisations...

N.B. Please feel free to add to this list by posting links only to full scores available for download.

So, here's a start:

Hubert Ferdinand Kufferath (1818-96): C major, Op.15 (1849):
https://imslp.org/wiki/Symphony%2C_Op.15_(Kufferath%2C_Hubert_Ferdinand)

Wilhelm Taubert (1811-91): B minor, Op.80 (1851):
https://imslp.org/wiki/Symphony_No.4%2C_Op.80_(Taubert%2C_Wilhelm)

Heinrich Esser (1818-72): B minor, Op.79 (1869-70)
https://imslp.org/wiki/Symphony%2C_Op.79_(Esser%2C_Heinrich)

Ernst Pauer (1826-1905): C minor, Op.50 (1861)
https://imslp.org/wiki/Symphony_No.1%2C_Op.50_(Pauer%2C_Ernst)

Eduard Lassen (1830-1904): D major (1867)
https://imslp.org/wiki/Symphony_No.1_(Lassen%2C_Eduard)

Carl Peter Georg Grädener (1812-1883): C minor, Op.25 (1872)
https://imslp.org/wiki/Symphony%2C_Op.25_(Gr%C3%A4dener%2C_Carl_Georg_Peter)

Philipp Rüfer (1844-1919): F major, Op.23 (1876)
https://imslp.org/wiki/Symphony%2C_Op.23_(R%C3%BCfer%2C_Philipp)

Johann Joseph Abert (1832-1915): No.5 in C minor (1869)
https://imslp.org/wiki/Symphony_No.5_(Abert%2C_Johann_Joseph)

[eschiss1]

... "complete scores available for download"
The Kufferath is a complete score, but not a full score. (It's a reduction.) That could pose a problem. Unless someone has access to the parts @ Royal Library of Brussels, or a copy of the full score or parts have been digitized somewhere online, or something...

Speaking of the devil. (Another, possibly better, link is Worldcat which links to the latter page- the digitized parts of the symphony.)

[Alan Howe]

Thanks, Eric. I have duly changed 'complete' to read 'full'.

[eschiss1]

we definitely want 1849-1876? Because Täglichsbeck's first symphony's complete parts (1837?) are here - https://imslp.org/wiki/Symphony_No.1%2C_Op.10_(T%C3%A4glichsbeck%2C_Thomas) ,

Castelbarco's F major symphony op.40's complete parts (ca.1846 published) are here - https://imslp.org/wiki/Symphony_in_F_major%2C_Op.40_(Castelbarco-Visconti%2C_Cesare) and

Bolko von Hochberg's symphony no.1 op.26 (pub.1879) in full score is here: https://imslp.org/wiki/Symphony_No.1%2C_Op.26_(Hochberg%2C_Hans_Heinrich_Bolko_von).

(1879 is also the publication date of Mihalovich's  first of four symphonies, found in full score here. https://imslp.org/wiki/Symphony_No.1_(Mihalovich%2C_%C3%96d%C3%B6n))

(Other recent arrivals, though earlier compositions, include for example the parts to the 7 symphonies by Joseph Küffner.)

[Alan Howe]

I'm sure we can extend the time-period on either side of the dates I suggested. It's just that this is the period for which I have the most data - and I've hardly begun...

[tpaloj]

So many names there that I've never heard. This is helpful - thank you Alan & Eric. To clarify, are you only looking at German symphonies, or is anything from this approximate time period fine?

Georg Andreas Henkel, op.20:
https://imslp.org/wiki/Symphony%2C_Op.20_(Henkel%2C_Andreas)
I did create a Noteperformer transcription of this Symphony last year. Coincidentally, I was just recently contacted by a conductor about possibly performing this. No definite plans yet so we'll see...

Ferdinand Hiller's Op.67 (1848):
https://imslp.org/wiki/Symphony,_Op.67_(Hiller,_Ferdinand)
Only first movement is recorded. A solo piano transcription of the whole piece was made and recorded by someone I think?

Friedrich Markull (1856) no.2, manuscript:
https://digital.staatsbibliothek-berlin.de/werkansicht?PPN=PPN820570354&PHYSID=PHYS_0003
Was thinking of setting this one and wrote out the scherzo earlier. The first movement started out promising, but after the Adagio the main Allegro theme is so trite and weak I struggled to write just past the exposition. The more lyrical passages are good though. Might revisit this in due time, hopefully it gets better as it goes on...

[Alan Howe]

You can contribute a symphony by anyone of any nationality - provided the score is publicly available. I just happened to be looking at two listings of symphonies by German or Austrian composers.

[eschiss1]

Scores, not performing parts, just to be clear? Parts are actually more likely.

[Reverie]

Like tpaloj I have various projects on the go all in various stages of completition. I have the Esserand Abert which are both about two thirds done and the Lassen which I've only recently begun but it's a lot quicker to get through than the other two. If anyone else is having a go at any on this useful list (one which I hope will grow in time) then maybe they should say what exactly they have planned so nobody is wasting their time.

Oh and yes, I don't think performing parts create a huge problem?

[Alan Howe]

Reverie's suggestion about sharing information concerning projects is a vital one. We don't want any wasted effort! If contributors wish to keep their project(s) secret from the wider public (or even the moderators!), then please remember to use UC's PM facility.

I would suggest that any completed project should be the subject of a separate thread.

[tpaloj]

I don't wish to keep anything secret, a few commercial projects I cannot go into but otherwise I fully support sharing a general list for our "in-progress" projects. Such a list would go beyond symphonies and so a separate thread would be for the best.

I'm really happy that you chose to work on Lassen's symphony Reverie. Been wondering how that sounds like for several years.

I don't have any plans for the rest of the symphonies mentioned here so far. A couple of Norwegian symphonies underway that are a little more recent and won't fit here.

Having only performing parts is not an issue so far as putting together Noteperformer renditions go, though I find working this way more frustrating. It seems to take longer and proofreading is much more time-consuming. And sometimes especially in handwritten parts there are things like missing rests (worst of all) and inconsistently placed dynamics & other things from one part to the next. Composers: it pays to keep those copyists chained to their desks until they stop making mistakes no matter how much they will complain...

Josef Rheinberger's Symphony No.1 JWV 41 (1855), D major, manuscript.
https://daten.digitale-sammlungen.de/0009/bsb00093223/images/index.html?id=00093223&groesser=&fip=sdasfsdreayaewqxdsydxsqrsewqxdsyd&no=10&seite=1
Rheinberger composed a vast and wide corpus of early works until eventually assigning his first opus number. These early works are mostly unrecognized and unremarked upon, but this early Symphony in D is interesting. For some reason it's become established that Rheinberger's symphonic poem Wallenstein is also called his "Symphony no.1". But clearly this early work is the first, true Symphony in D, isn't it? Apparently Wallenstein was called the "Symphony no.1" in its premiere and Rheinberger in fact did not consider this early work when numbering his later symphonies.

Rheinberger's early works also include an unfinished "second symphony" JWV 76 in C minor.

[Alan Howe]

John Ellerton (1801-73): Wald-Symphonie, Op.120 (1861)
https://imslp.org/wiki/Wald-Symphonie%2C_Op.120_(Ellerton%2C_John_Lodge)

Napoleon Henri Reber (1807-1880): C major, Op.19 (ca 1838)
https://imslp.org/wiki/Symphony_No.2%2C_Op.19_(Reber%2C_Napol%C3%A9on_Henri)

Jacob Rosenhain (1813-94): No.2 F minor, Op.43 (1844?)
https://imslp.org/wiki/Symphony_No.2%2C_Op.43_(Rosenhain%2C_Jacob)

[eschiss1]

Ellerton's Wald-Symphonie, no performers mentioned, perhaps a MIDI? -- YouTube.

tpaloj- any plans to include Borgstrom's manuscript symphonies (parts/score digitized in a Norwegian library online, I believe...)?

[eschiss1]

As to not overlapping,  not doing the same thing as each other, etc., there's an app, I mean, page, on IMSLP specifically for that -- well, more for announcing plans to -typeset- works so that two people/groups aren't typesetting the same work/retypesetting the same score at the same time, but I'm sure it can be repurposed. I'll see if I can find the link..

Oh, ok, this was a Scanning queue ("Here you can post scores that you are (or will be) scanning or typesetting, to prevent redundancies.")

[Alan Howe]

Ellerton's Wald-Symphonie, no performers mentioned, perhaps a MIDI? -- YouTube.

Worth re-doing, I think.