View source for Draft:Symphony No. 1 (Weingartner)

{{Infobox musical composition
| name                = Symphony No.1
| subtitle            = 
| composer            = [[Felix Weingartner]]
| image               = Wingartner Symphony 1 First Edition Cover.svg
| caption             = Cover of the score's first edition
| translation         = 
| key                 = [[G major]]
| opus                = 23
| period              = [[Romantic Music|Romantic,]]
[[Neoclassicism (music)|Neoclassical]]
| composed            = 1897-98
| dedication          = [[Franz Wüllner]]
| published           = 1899
| publisher           = Breitkopf und Härtel
| duration            = 34 min
| movements           = 4
}}

[[Felix Weingartner]]'s '''Symphony No. 1''' in [[G major]], Op. 23 is a musical composition that Weingartner started in 1897 and completed in 1898.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |title=Symphony No.2, Op.29 (Weingartner, Felix) - IMSLP: Free Sheet Music PDF Download |url=https://imslp.org/wiki/Symphony_No.2,_Op.29_(Weingartner,_Felix) |access-date=2023-02-14 |website=imslp.org}}</ref>  It was composed alongside his [[Symphony No. 2 (Weingartner)|second symphony]] which was completed the following year. The overall musical language of the piece is [[Romantic music|late-romantic]] although with a high emphasis on [[Franz Schubert|Schubertian]] melodicism. Furthermore, as with other contemporary Austrian composers of the end of the 20th century such as [[Gustav Mahler]] or [[Hans Rott]],<ref>{{Cite web |date=2015-01-06 |title=Hans Rott (1858-1884) |url=https://mahlerfoundation.org/mahler/contemporaries/hans-rott/ |access-date=2023-02-14 |website=Mahler Foundation |language=en-US}}</ref> his second symphony heavily uses a [[Anton Bruckner|Brucknerian]] treatment of simple motifs through extensive repetition and grand orchestration.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=WEINGARTNER Symphony cpo 777099-2 [LF]: Classical CD Reviews- March 2006 MusicWeb-International |url=http://www.musicweb-international.com/classRev/2006/Mar06/weingartner_symphony_cpo777099.htm |access-date=2023-02-14 |website=www.musicweb-international.com}}</ref>

== Introduction ==
Composed between 1897 and 1899, his Second Symphony was premiered in [[Germany]] 1900.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web |title=1482 |url=https://repertoire-explorer.musikmph.de/wp-content/uploads/vorworte_prefaces/1482.html |access-date=2023-02-21 |website=repertoire-explorer.musikmph.de}}</ref> In the following years it was performed several times across Europe, usually under Weingartner's own baton. In 1901 it was premiered in [[London]] by [[Henry Wood|Sir Henry Wood]] at [[the Proms]],<ref>{{Cite web |title=BBC Proms |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/proms/events/works/8e4b2b6f-d758-40b6-915c-10c7ad81463d |access-date=2023-02-21 |website=BBC Music Events |language=en}}</ref> the only symphony by the composer performed there.<ref>{{Cite web |title=BBC Proms |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/proms/events/composers/c63c08a5-b743-49cf-ab27-e4d68d0f2888/works |access-date=2023-02-21 |website=BBC Music Events |language=en}}</ref> The same year it was premiered in [[Paris]] and [[Munich]] under Weingartner's direction, and in 1905 he premiered it in [[Berlin]]. The symphony received generally cold responses, which are said to have distressed the composer. The German musicologist [[Hugo Goldschmidt]] opined that it demonstrated "an embarrassing mismatch between intention and ability".<ref name=":3" /> A less adverse French reviewer said the work was not so much a symphony as an [[orchestral suite]], whose movements are in no way linked together. All agreed that it was an unoriginal effort.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=1482 |url=https://repertoire-explorer.musikmph.de/wp-content/uploads/vorworte_prefaces/1482.html |access-date=2023-02-21 |website=repertoire-explorer.musikmph.de}}</ref>

There is no recorded public performance of the work after World War I, and the composition was generally forgotten until CPO released a recording of the work in 2006, with [[Marko Letonja]] conducting the [[Sinfonieorchester Basel|Basel Symphony]].<ref name=":0" />

== Instrumentation ==
The work is scored for a [[Symphony orchestra]] consisting of the following assemble:<ref name=":2" />

; [[Woodwind instrument|Woodwinds]]
: 3 [[Western concert flute|flutes]] (3rd also takes [[piccolo]])
: 3 [[Oboe|oboes]] (3rd also takes [[Cor anglais|English horn]])
: 3 [[Clarinet|clarinets]]
: 3 [[Bassoon|bassoons]] (3rd also takes [[contrabassoon]])
; [[Brass instrument|Brass]]
: 4 [[French horn|horns]]
: 3 [[Trumpet|trumpets]]
: 3 [[Trombone|trombones]]
: [[tuba]]
; [[Percussion instrument|Percussion]]
: [[timpani]]
; [[String instrument|Strings]]
: [[harp]]
: 1st [[Violin|violins]]
: 2nd [[Violin|violins]]
: [[Viola|violas]]
: [[Cello|cellos]]
: [[Double bass|double basses]]

== Form ==
There are four movements:<ref>{{Cite web |title=Symphony No. 2 in E flat major, ... {{!}} Details |url=https://www.allmusic.com/composition/symphony-no-2-in-e-flat-major-op-29-mc0002631015 |access-date=2023-02-16 |website=AllMusic |language=en}}</ref>

# Lento - Allegro Mosso {{music|cut-time}} ''(E-flat major)''
# [[Scherzo]]: Allegro giocoso {{Time signature|3|4}} ''(C major)''
# Adagio, ma non troppo, cantabile {{Time signature|4|8}} ''(A-flat major)''
# Allegro risoluto {{music|cut-time}} ''(E-flat major)''

A typical performance lasts between 45 and 50 minutes.

== Analysis ==

=== Movement I ===
The first movement consists of a [[sonata form]] with a slow introduction. A brass outburst starts the symphony, which is responded by pianissimo pizzicatos in the strings.

=== Movement II ===
{{Multiple image
| image1            = Anton Bruckner.png
| image2            = Gustav Mahler side profile.png
| image3            = Hans Rott.png
| total_width       = 270
| caption1          = 
| caption2          = 
| caption3          = 
| footer            = [[Bruckner]], [[Mahler]] and [[Hans Rott|Rott]] as well used the Austrian landler for their scherzos and where a source of inspiration for the symphony.
}}
The second movement is a simple [[Scherzo|scherzo and trio]] in the form of the traditional [[Austria|Austrian]] [[ländler]] similar to the scherzos of his contemporaries [[Gustav Mahler|Mahler]] and [[Hans Rott|Rott]],<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Edgecombe |first=R. S. |date=2006 |title=The 19th-Century Ländler: Some Thoughts. |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/25434423 |journal=The Musical Times |volume=147 |issue=1897 |pages=63–76 |doi=10.2307/25434423 |jstor=25434423}}</ref> who they in turn where inspired by the ländler-scherzos of [[Anton Bruckner|Bruckner]] and even earlier [[Schubert]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Barham |first=J |title=Rethinking Mahler |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2017 |isbn=9780199316090 |pages=78–79}}</ref> If the first movement ended in E-flat major, the tonality of the scherzo shifts to C major; the [[Parallel key|parallel major]] of the [[submediant]] of E-flat major (C minor).<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Moreno |first=R |date=2017 |title=Harmonic Syntax and Vocabulary in Tonal Music |url=https://www.academia.edu/download/53800567/Poster-Moreno-Rodolfo.pdf |journal=LabEx GREAM |type=Abstract from Le IXe Congrès européen d’Analyse musicale. Strasbourg |pages=239}}</ref> Marked "''giocoso''", the mood is joyful and lively. From all the movements of the symphony, the second is the most outwardly Brucknerian, creating extensive textures based upon simple [[Ostinato|ostinatos]]. Nevertheless, this motivic treatment is usually contrasted with strong melodicism both in the strings and horns.

The main theme of the scherzo section is played first in the violins:
[[File:Scherzo_Theme_1,_Symphony_No.2_Weingartner.svg|center|frameless|602x602px]]
This leaps of the fifth and the octave becomes an essential motif for the development of the movement which provides the rhythm and feel of the ländler:
[[File:Movement_II_fifth_motif,_Symphony_No.2_Weingartner.svg|center|frameless|387x387px]]
The scherzo section ends with an ostinato played in unison:
[[File:Movement_II_unison_ostinato,_Symphony_No.2_Weingartner.svg|center|frameless|623x623px]]
The trio quickly changes the musical texture, now with the ostinato played in the flute and a pastoral melody in the violas:
[[File:Movement_II_trio_main_theme,_Symphony_No.2_Weingartner.svg|center|frameless|478x478px]]

=== Movement III ===
The third movement is molded after [[Symphony No. 9 (Beethoven)|Beethoven's 9th Symphony]]'s slow movement.<ref name=":0" /> A clarinet solo establishes the key of A-flat major (the [[subdominant]] of E-flat major) which in consequence leads to an extended Beethovenian hymn-like melody for the strings:<ref name=":1" />
[[File:Movement_III_Adagio,_Symphony_No.2_Weingartner.svg|center|frameless|479x479px]]
After a solo violin, the second theme in the clarinets and bassoons is presented:
[[File:Movement_III_Un_poco_piu_mosso,_Symphony_No.2_Weingartner.svg|center|frameless|543x543px]]
Alike the doble variations of the slow movement of Beethoven's 9th, with these two themes established, a short set of doble variations follows.

=== Movement IV ===
The fourth movement cycles back and reuses material of the 4-minute slow introduction of the first movement. Nevertheless, Weingartner synthesizes the 4-minute introduction into a condensed 1-minute prelude for the fugal section that follows.

== External Links ==

* {{IMSLP|work=Symphony No.1, Op.23 (Weingartner, Felix)}}

== References ==
{{reflist}}{{Felix Weingartner}}