Sinfonia in C-Sharp minor

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. Like the Sinfonia in C (VB 139), this work is a representative of the more intimate Sinfonia da camera genre. The autograph parts make it clear that the setting was originally intended to be small, perhaps only one player per part. It is not know for which occasion Kraus composed this work but it was likely written during the summer or early autumn of 1782. The entire work can be considered one of the best examples of a true Sturm und Drang symphony. The slow introduction contains a dramatic allusion to Gluck’s overture to the opera Iphigenie en Aulide, a significant homage to one of Kraus’s idols. Trademarks of the musical Sturm und Drang abound in the outer movements; the swiftly appearing motives, the relentless minor key sonorities, the incessant use of rapidly changing dynamics, syncopations and tremolos, and the often sparse orchestration that lends the movements a powerful tension.