|Instrumentation||Strings, flute, 2 oboes, 2 bassoons, 2 horns|
|Movements||I: Adagio maestoso – Allegro con Brio (D) II: Allegretto (G) III: Menuetto: Vivace (D) IV: Presto vivace (D)|
|Overview||Written when he was 18, this symphony shows quite a lot of influence from Haydn. All the movements except the first show some elements of folk influence, including the Allegretto, which is rather like a peasant’s dance and the Trio from the third movement that has a Landler-like quality (a Landler is a folk dance in ¾ that was original characterised by stamping and hopping but it became gentler and more elegant in the nineteenth century).
The final movement is the most striking, with its vigorous tarantella rhythms and bold harmonies.
|L) Dance, Folk and national styles||As mentioned above, there are a variety of dance and folk elements found in this work. The most obvious is the tarantella, which is traditionally held to have been danced by victims of poisonous spider bites in the Apulia region of Italy. It is very fast in 6/8 and characterised by repeated quavers as well as a distinctive crotchet/quaver figure.
Look at the score of the opening of the movement and listen to the audio below