The Dittersdorf Symphony Project

The Dittersdorf Symphony Project (abbreviated DSP) aims for the first time to make available the complete symphonic output of Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf (1739–1799), one of the finest and most prolific composers of symphonies in Haydn and Mozart’s proximity. The project is a coöperation between Artaria Editions, Naxos Music and Senter for Tidligmusikk/The Centre for Early Music Studies in Trondheim. It is led by Dr. Halvor K. Hosar (University of Stavanger) and Mag. Darija Anđelić-Andžaković (Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst Wien).

Biography

Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf (1739–99; born Carl Ditters) was a central figure in musical life during the age of Haydn and Mozart. Amongst the great Viennese symphonists of his era he was arguably the only one native to the city, yet perhaps the one that spent the most time away from the it.

Young Carl Ditters was a prodigious virtuoso on the violin already as a child, and it was in this position that he first made a name for himself, securing himself a position as violinist in the orchestra of Prince Joseph Friedrich von Sachsen-Hildburghausen. He received his earliest training as a composer from none other than Giuseppe Bonno (1711–88), who was then Kapellmeister for Prince Hildburghausen and later would become imperial Hofkapellmeister.

Ditters was an early friend and associate of Joseph Haydn (1733–1809) after the latter lost his position at the Stephansdom. Around the same time, Ditters met Johann Baptist Wanhal (1739–1813), who would soon become another famous composer of symphonies. Ditters would later claim to have been his teacher, but there is little evidence to back this up. It seems more likely that Ditters gave him pointers on Viennese taste and violin style.

In 1761, Ditters was dismissed by the Prince, but quickly took on a position at the Burgtheater. In 1763, he travelled to Italy alongside Christoph Willibald Gluck (1714–87), and in the following year he performed at the coronation of Emperor Joseph II in Frankfurt. In 1765, Ditters moved away from Vienna, to the distant Grosswardein (today Oradea in Romania), where he worked under Prince-Bishop Adam Patachich, who had previously been the patron of Michael Haydn (1737–1806), and where Ditters would remain until 1769.

His period of greatest respite came in the service of the disgraced Prince-Bishop of Breslau (today Wroclaw in Poland), Prince-Bishop Philipp Gotthard von Schaffgotsch, who had lost access to the Prussian parts of his fief after siding with the Habsburg Monarchy in the Seven-Year’s War. Beginning in 1770, Ditters worked under the Archbishop in the castle of Johannisberg (Czech: Jánský Vrch), in present-day Javorník in Czech Silesia. Here he was ennobled in 1773 in order to take on the additional duties as Forstmeister for the Prince-Bishop.

Despite his many duties and the remoteness of his position, Dittersdorf not only managed to stay in touch with musical life in Vienna, but his greatest successes belong to this period. Dittersdorf is regarded as one of the progenitors of the Teutonophone operatic tradition, largely on account of his Singspiel Der Apotheker und der Doktor (more commonly known as Doktor und Apotheker), which during its original run in Vienna during the summer of 1786 out-competed Mozart’s newest opera Le nozze di Figaro. In 1787 his six Ovid symphonies were performed in the Augarten in Vienna – Baron Gottfried van Swieten (1733–1803), the most demanding lover of music in Vienna and a key figure in the late careers of both Mozart and Haydn, bought one-hundred tickets for the event. Dittersdorf's successes during this period even awarded him an interview with Emperor Joseph II, which Dittersdorf later recounted to great detail both in the journal Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung and in his own autobiography.

Dittersdorf was estranged from Prince-Bishop Schafgotsch following a dispute in 1794, and the latter’s death the following year made a reconciliation impossible. During his last years of increasingly poor health, he worked for Baron Ignaz von Stillfried in Southern Bohemia. He died in 1799.

Dittersdorf was the only literatus in his generation of Viennese composers. It is now believed that the famous article ‘Von dem wienerischen Geschmack in der Musik’ (‘Regarding the Viennese Taste in Music’) from 1765, the only significant Viennese text on music aesthetics from the early classic era, was written by him. Even more importantly, his autobiography, which was finished with the help of his son shortly before his death, is one of our most important primary sources about the realities of musical life in this era.

Dittersdorf was the most prolific composer of symphonies in the Viennese cultural sphere in his lifetime, as well as one of the finest. His characteristic symphonies, which could draw their material both from elevated literature and crude caricatures of people, could sometimes divert strongly from the generic symphonic template. Combined, his production is a panacea of musical creativity and skill. Until now, only a minute selection of Dittersdorf’s symphonic corpus has been available in modern editions. The Dittersdorf Symphony Project intends to rectify this and create texts that can help make to fill one of the most important lacunas in our knowledge of eighteenth-century music.

State of the Edition

A complete edition of Dittersdorf’s symphonies was begun by Artaria Editions in the late 1990s. After having been dormant for a long time, the project was revived as The Dittersdorf Symphony Project in 2024. Dittersdorf’s symphonies have been catalogued several times. This edition makes use of the newest available catalogue, compiled by Margaret H. Grave for the Garland Publishing Symphony 1720–1840 project (reference volume, ed. Barry S. Brook, 166-93), but seeks to augment this with new information where necessary. For instance, several works that were believed to be lost by Grave have since come to light, and in some cases where she deemed attributions questionable for want of evidence, these can now be pursued.

Navigate by key:
C, D, E♭, E, F, G, A, B♭, a, d, e, g, other

C1 (Grave C-1, Krebs 26):
C2 (Grave C-3, Krebs 108):
C3 (Grave C-5, Krebs 60): In preparation
C4 (Grave C-6, Krebs 117):
C5 (Grave C-7, Krebs 32): ed. Allan Badley 1998 (AE135)
C6 (Grave C-10):
C7 (Grave C-11):
C8 (Grave C-12, Krebs 90):
C9 (Grave C-15, Krebs 2):
C10 (Grave C-16, Krebs 19):
C11 (Grave C-17):
C12 (Grave C-18, Krebs 66 & 114):
C13 (Grave C-19, Krebs 93):
C14 (Grave C-20, Krebs 85):
C15 (Grave C-9, Krebs 1):
C16 (Grave C-14, Krebs 7):
C17 ‘Les quatres âges du monde, Metamorphoses I’ (Grave C-23, Krebs 73):

D1 ‘La chûte de Phaèton, Metamorphoses II’ (Grave D-1, Krebs 74):
D2 (Grave D-2, Krebs 106): ed. Allan Badley 1998 (AE134)
D3 (Grave D-3):
D4 (Grave D-4, Krebs 63):
D5 (Grave D-5, Krebs 39 & 109):
D6 (Grave D-6, Krebs 118): ed. Allan Badley 1998 (AE133)
D7 (Grave D-8, Krebs 89):
D8 (Grave D-14): In preparation
D9 (Grave D-15, Krebs 62):
D10 (Grave D-16):
D11 (Grave D-17, Krebs 67):
D12 (Grave D-18, Krebs 104):
D13 (Grave D-19, Krebs 21):
D14 (Grave D-20, Krebs 92):
D15 (Grave D-24):
D16 ‘Il Combattimento delle passioni umani’ (Krebs 46 & 133): ed. Allan Badley 1995 (AE035)
D17 (Grave D-2, Krebs 51):
D18 (Grave D-27, Krebs 127):
D19 (Grave D-32):
D20 (Grave D-34, Krebs 5 & 43):
D21 (Grave D-36):
D22 (Grave D-37):
D23 (Grave D-38, Krebs 33 & 112):
D24 'Jupiter' (Grave D-39): In preparation
D25 (Grave D-40, Krebs 107):
D26 (Grave D-41):
D27 (Grave D-43):
D28 (Grave D-44):
D29 (Grave D-47): In preparation
D30 (Grave D-48):
D31 (Grave D-49):
D32 ‘Il Ridotto/Le Carneval’ (Krebs 94): In preparation
D33 (Grave D-50):
D34 ‘Phinée avec ses amis changés en rochers, Metamorphoses V’ (Grave D-53, Krebs 77):

E♭1 (Grave E♭-2, Krebs 99):
E♭2 (Grave E♭-3, Krebs 13):
E♭3 (Grave E♭-6, Krebs 6):
E♭4 (Grave E♭-8, Krebs 126):
E♭5 (Grave E♭-10, Krebs 124):
E♭6 (Grave E♭-13, Krebs 91):
E♭7 (Grave E♭-14, Krebs 61):
E♭8 (Grave E♭-15, Krebs 24 & 96):
E♭9 (Grave E♭-19, Krebs 125): ed. Allan Badley 1998 (AE131)
E♭10 (Grave E♭-22, Krebs 69):
E♭11 (Grave E♭-24, Krebs 23):

E1 (Grave E-1, Krebs 22): ed. Allan Badley 1998 (AE130)
E2 (Grave E-3, Krebs 17):

F1 (Grave F-3, Krebs 25):
F2 (Grave F-5, Krebs 28):
F3 ‘Andromède sauvée par Persée, Metamorphoses IV’ (Grave F-8, Krebs 76):
F4 (Grave F-9, Krebs 10): ed. Allan Badley 1998 (AE132)
F5 (Grave F-12, Krebs 31):
F6 (Grave F-14, Krebs 9): In preparation
F7 (Grave F-15, Krebs 4): ed. Allan Badley 1996 (AE036)
F8 (Grave F-16, Krebs 101):
F9 (Grave F-18, Krebs 70):
F10 'Sinfonia Francese' (Grave F-24, Krebs 71 & 113):
F11 (Grave F-25, Krebs 34):
F12 (Grave F-27, Krebs 35):

G1 (Grave G-1, Krebs 111):
G2 (Grave G-5):
G3 (Grave G-6, Krebs 59):
G4 (Grave G-7, Krebs 12):
G5 (Grave G-8, Krebs 110):
G6 (Grave G-9, Krebs 20):
G7 (Grave G-12):
G8 (Grave G-14, Krebs 72):
G9 (Grave G-15, Krebs 3):
G10 (Grave G-16, Krebs 86):
G11 (Grave G-17):
G12 (Grave G-22, Krebs 52):
G13 (Grave G-23, Krebs 65):
G14 (Grave G-24, Krebs 64):
G15 ‘Actéon change en cerf, Metamorphoses III’ (Grave G-26, Krebs 75):

A1 (Grave A-1, Krebs 103):
A2 (Grave A-2):
A3 (Grave A-4):
A4 (Grave A-5, Krebs 36): In preparation
A5 (Grave A-6, Krebs 16):
A6 (Grave A-7, Krebs 56): ed. Allan Badley 1998 (AE136)
A7 (Grave A-8, Krebs 50):
A8 (Grave A-9, Krebs 55):
A9 ‘Les paysans changés en grenouilles, Metamorphoses VI’ (Grave A-10, Krebs 78):
A10 ‘Sinfonia nazionale nel gusto di cinque nazioni’ (Grave A-12, Krebs 18): ed. Allan Badley 1996 (AE034)
A11 (Grave A-16, Krebs 119):
A12 (Grave A-19, Krebs 120):
A13 (Grave A-20):

B♭1 (Grave B♭-1, Krebs 88):
B♭2 (Grave B♭-2, Krebs 28 & 123):
B♭3 (Grave B♭-3, Krebs 15):
B♭4 (Grave B♭-6, Krebs 47 & 49):
B♭5 (Grave B♭-9, Krebs 29, 40 & 98): ed. Allan Badley 1998 (AE137)
B♭6 (Grave B♭-11, Krebs 11):
B♭7 (Grave B♭-13, Krebs 14, 53, 122):

a1 (Grave a-1, Krebs 95):
a2 ‘Il deliro delli compositori’ (Grave a-2, Krebs 68): ed. Allan Badley 1996 (AE033)

d1 (Grave d-2): ed. Allan Badley 1996 (AE037)

e1 (Grave e-1):

g1 (Grave g-1, Krebs 33 & 97): ed. Allan Badley 1996 (AE038)

Opera overtures:
L'Arcifanfan, re de' matti:
L'amore disprezzato (Krebs 289):
Der Apotheker und der Doktor/Doktor und Apotheker (Krebs 292):
Il barone di rocca antica:
Die befreyten Gwelfen (Krebs 304):
Der Betrug durch Aberglauben/Die Schatzgräber (Krebs 293):
La contadina fedele (Krebs 290):
Democrito corretto (Krebs 294):
Il finto pazzo per amore:
Das Gespenst mit der Trommel (Krebs 301):
Gott Mars und Der Hauptmann von Bährenzahl (Krebs 302):
Hieronymus Knicker (Krebs 297):
Hokus Pokus, oder Das Gaukenspiel (Krebs 300):
Die Liebe im Narrenhause/Orpheus der Zweyte (Krebs 295):
Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor (Krebs 306):
Don Quixott der Zweyte (Krebs 303):
Il maniscalco/Der gelehrte Hufschmied:
Der Mädchenmarkt (Krebs 310):
La moda, o sia Gli scompigli domestici:
Die Opera buffa (Krebs 314):
Orfeus der zweyte (Krebs 296):
Das rothe Käppchen, oder Hilft's nicht, so schadt's nicht (Krebs 298):
Der Schach von Schira (Krebs 305):
Der Schiffspatron, oder Der neue Gutsherr (Krebs 299):
Der schöne Herbsttag (Krebs 307):
Lo sposo burlato/Der betrogene Bräutigam (Krebs 291):
Der terno secco/Der Ternengewinnst, oder Der gedemüthigte Stolz (Krebs 309):
Il tribunale di Giove (Krebs 315)
Il tutore e la pupilla:
Ugolino (Krebs 308):
Zum (Der) Teufel, ein Hydraulikus (Krebs 311):

Oratorio overtures:
Il Davide nella valle di Terebintho (Krebs 317):
Giob (Krebs 319):
La liberatrice del popolo diudaico nella Persia, o sia l'Ester (Krebs 318):

Liebeskind arrangements of lost Ovid symphonies:
Ajax et Ulysse (Krebs 84):
Hercule en Dieu (Krebs 81):
Jason, qui emporte la Toison d'or (Krebs 79):

Recordings

(This list is limited to recordings known to have used Dittersdorf Symphony Project editions. Click on photo to be taken to record label)