Sinfonia in E minor

The symphonies of Johann Baptist Wanhal (1739-1813), one of the most prolific and important of Haydn’s Viennese contemporaries, are among the most important works of their kind from the late-18th century. Bold and imaginative, powerful and lyrical, Wanhal’s symphonies are only now beginning to win wider recognition as the masterpieces they are. The Sinfonia e3 is one of Wanhal’s earliest symphonies and may have been composed ca 1760-62. The use of the minor mode is unusual for the time and shows that Wanhal’s fascination with the expressive possibilities of the turbulent minor-key style existed from the outset of his professional career. It permeates the entire first movement, the Menuetto, and most of the last movement, a lively Contratanz in which one might logically expect the brightness of the major mode.