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Scan 261
Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 1928
18 lines. Read by computer on 12 September 2026. Printed page 215. See the scan on archive.org.
1in performance, and did not find his bands very easily led in these respects. The movements themselves are on the same small scale as those of J. C. Bach, Abel and Stamitz; and very rarely have the double bar and repeat in the first movements, though these often make their appearance in the finales. The style is to a certain extent individual; not so robust or so full as that of Bach or Stamitz, but not without attractiveness. The following quotation from the last movement of a symphony in B♭ will serve to give some idea of his style and manner of scoring:
3Allegro ballabile.
4Oboi.
5Corni in Eb.
6Violini 1 & 2.
7Viola.
8Cello e Basso.
10etc.
11etc.
13Another composer of symphonies, who is often heard of in juxtaposition with Haydn and Mozart, and sometimes as being preferred to them by the audiences of the time, is Gyrowetz. His symphonies appear to be on a larger scale than those of the prior generation of composers of second rank like himself. A few of them are occasionally to be met with in collections of 'Periodical overtures,' 'symphonies,' etc., published in separate orchestral parts. One in C, scored for small orchestra, has an introductory adagio, an allegro of about the dimensions of Haydn's earlier first movements, with double bar in the middle; then an andante con sordini (the latter a favourite device in central slow movements); then a minuet and trio, and, to end with, a rondo in 2-4 time, allegro non troppo. Others, in Eb and B♭, have much the same distribution of movements, but without the introductory adagio. The style of them is rather mild and complacent, and not approaching in any way the interest or breadth of the works of his great contemporaries; but the subjects are clear and vivacious, and the movements seem fairly developed. Other symphony writers, who had vogue and even celebrity about this time and a little later, such as Krommer (beloved by Schubert), the Rombergs and Eberl (at one time preferred to Beethoven), require no more than passing mention. They certainly furthered the branch of art very little, and were so completely extinguished by the exceptionally great writers who came close upon one another at that time that it is even difficult to find traces of them.
15Beethoven.—The greatest of all masters of the symphony followed so close upon Haydn that there is less of a gap between the last of Haydn's symphonies and his first than there was later between some of his own. Haydn's last was probably written in 1795. When Beethoven wrote his first cannot be ascertained; sketches for the finale are found as early as the year last mentioned; but it was not actually produced in public till Apr. 2, 1800. Like Schumann and Brahms in later days, he did not turn his attention to this branch of composition till comparatively late. The opus-number of his first symphony is 21. It is preceded by eleven pianoforte sonatas, several works for pianoforte combined with other instruments, the well-known septet in Eb and several chamber compositions for strings. So that by the time he came to attacking symphony he had had considerable practice in dealing with structural matters. The only works in which he had tried his strength with the orchestra were the two piano concertos—the B♭, op. 19, which was written in or about 1795, and the C major, op. 15, which was written about 1796. He showed himself at once a master of the orchestra; but it is evident that at first he stepped cautiously in expressing himself with such resources.
17The first symphony is less free and rich in expression, and has more elements of formality, than several works on a smaller scale which preceded it. This is explicable on the general ground that the orchestra, especially in those days, was not a fit exponent of the same kind of things which could be expressed by solo violins or the pianoforte. The scale must necessarily be larger and broader; the intricate development and delicate or subtle sentiment which is quite appropriate and intelligible in the intimacy of a domestic circle is out of place in the more public conditions of orchestral performance.
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