Sinfonia 'Violin obligato'

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. Kraus had a lifelong fascination with drama and unsurprisingly his symphonies are full of unexpected twists and turns and contain many forward-looking stylistic devices that anticipate music of the next century. Described by scholars as a symphony, a sinfonia concertante, and even a violin concerto, the Sinfonia in C with the obbligato violin was most likely written in Stockholm about 1778-1779, based upon handwriting and watermark evidence. It represents one of Kraus’s first compositions after settling in Sweden. The purpose for which it was written remains unknown, and indeed it is not entirely certain if the work was ever performed during the composer’s lifetime. It is clear from the context of the work, Kraus’s first with a slow introduction, that it does not conform well to the standard notion of a true symphony. The solo violin has extensive passages that go beyond the usual obbligato parts found in other contemporaneous symphonies, yet the work does not have the form or structure of a concerto. In addition, there are passages for solo flute and violoncello, as well as a couple of brief appearances for the violas, that add a further dimension to the symphony.