Arriaga, Juan Crisóstomo de 

Juan Crisóstomo de Arriaga – Symphony in D (ca. 1824/25)

(b. Bilbao, 27 January 1806 — d. Paris, 12/17 January 1826)

I Adagio – Allegro vivace – Presto p. 3
II Andante p. 43
III Minuetto. Allegro p. 54
IV Allegro con moto p. 63

Preface
Juan Crisóstomo de Arriaga wrote his earliest known compositions at the age of eleven. For a considerable time before him, and for many decades afterwards, no other Spanish composer reached comparable creative heights. His early death from tuberculosis cut short the development of a potentially major figure.
In 1818 Arriaga wrote his first orchestral work, the Overture, Opus 1. The following year the thirteen-year-old composer completed his opera Los esclavos felices after L. F. Comella y Comella. It was premièred in Bilbao in 1820. The overture and fragments of the arias are extant. In 1821 Arriaga went to Paris, where he studied violin with Pierre Baillot (1771-1842) and composition and counterpoint with François-Joseph Fétis (1784-1871). Luigi Cherubini lauded his exceptional talent. In 1824, the Paris publisher Philippe Petit released the parts of Arriaga’s three string quartets, in D minor, A major and E-flat major; these works subsequently found their place in the established repertoire. (The Guarneri Quartet’s recording for Philips is outstanding). In the last quarter of the 19th century, Emiliano de Arriaga discovered and spread the music of his great ancestor, labelling him the “Spanish Mozart”.
Arriaga composed his Symphony in D in 1824 or 1825 in Paris, and it is available here in study score for the first time. It is one of the era’s finest contributions to this genre, enjoys international popularity and lends important significance to the name of Arriaga for future generations. The date and place of the first performance could, unfortunately, not be ascertained.
The present publication is a reprint of the first edition in 1930 that was edited by José de Arriaga (the son of Emiliano de Arriaga). It contains many details which are in fact editorial interventions. A large number of dynamic signs and all downbow and upbow markings are thus not by Arriaga himself, but were added by the editor.
Translation: Ernst Lumpe & Graham Lack, 2004.

For performance materials please contact the publisher Peer Music, New York/Hamburg (www.peermusic-classical.de).