Sinfonia in D

Though Joseph Martin Kraus (1756-1792) became the most influential Swedish musician of the 18th century, he was born and educated in Germany and lived only eight years in Stockholm before his early death at the age of 36. Yet in that brief period he had taught composers and created the Swedish school of opera. The Sinfonia in D (VB 143) is one of three works in this genre where the question of authorship has, until recently, been unclear. There exist multiple sources for this work, all of which attribute it to Joseph Haydn. The earliest edition, which was published in late 1786 or early 1787 in Paris and from which all of the sources derive, names Haydn as the composer, but it is known that Kraus’s autograph of the symphony was extant in Stockholm up to 1825, when it was burned in the great fire of the Royal Dramatic Theatre. A date for the work is also a matter of some conjecture. In terms of form, structure, and instrumentation it is a companion piece to the Sinfonia in Eb (VB 144) composed in Rome in early 1784. This would seem to date the work from around the same time, possible as early as August or September of 1783, and it is very likely that this is the symphony that Kraus composed for Haydn and Esterháza orchestra. As is usual with Kraus’s preference the symphony is in a three-movement form, with the usual internal variations of thematic material. It is an unusual piece with harmonic surprises, extreme textural contrasts, and careful orchestration, but there also exists odd twists that reflect an almost Haydnesque sense of humour.