Dittersdorf, Symphonies after Ovid

[steltz]

I've tagged these, but I've also noticed that our page says "6" symphonies, as does some recordings, Grove Music lists "3 simphonies, exprimant 3 métamorphoses d'Ovide (Vienna, 1791) [Vienna]" on their works page, but on their article page it says "He also enjoyed financial success with his 12 symphonies based on Ovid's Metamorphoses . . .".

In the interests of accuracy on the work page, how many of these were there?????

[pml]

Dittersdorf’s œuvre apparently contains in the vicinity of 120 symphonies, of which only about a third were published under opus numbers – so it seems quite possible for there to be a publication of 3 Ovid symphonies in Vienna in 1791, and another 3, or 6, or 9 symphonies unpublished, or disseminated through individual manuscripts.

I’ve personally seen plenty of citations for six Ovid symphonies; I’d go with that until we can clearly establish twelve, since there only seems to be the single citation for that (albeit a usually reliable one, in Grove).

Cheers PML

[steltz]

Okay, I'll leave it, and if anyone has any more info, please let us know!

[panda]

My understanding is that there were twelve symphonies of which six survive in their original form. The other six only exist in piano duet arrangements by Dittersdorf.