Sinfonia in F mvt 1, Jan Václav Antonín Stamic (Johann Wenzel Anton Stamitz)

[aulos43]

I began reading "Mozart: A Cultural Biography" by Robert W. Gutman back in 1999 to get some perspective on the composer and found many references to his musical predecessors. I had studied (western) music history in college and on my own, but there are so many gaps. In particular, the transition from Baroque to Classical. One name for the music of that transition is "Proto-Classical." At some point it occurred to me to begin getting recordings of Monn, E. Bach, Wagenseil, J. Stamitz, Cannabich and other proto-classical symphonists, and found many of them very appealing as well as giving insight into the evolution of European musical styles and the symphony especially.

Then I found the "International Music Score Library Project" on the internet. It has collections of scanned scores -- some copies of manuscripts, some printed scores. Last year I began transcribing some of them using Notation Composer, starting with ones I could not find a recording of, and producing mp3 versions using Cubase SX3 and now also the Garritan Personal Orchestra Aria player.

I will post the second and third movements of this sinfonia next.

Thanks for your interest.

Walt