Toy Symphony

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The Toy Symphony (original titles: Berchtoldsgaden Musick or Sinphonia Berchtolgadensis) is a symphony in C major dating from the 1760s with parts for toy instruments, including toy trumpet, ratchet, bird calls (cuckoo, nightingale and quail), chime tree, triangle, drum and glockenspiel.

Contents

Form

The symphony has three movements and typically takes around ten minutes to perform.

  1. Allegro
  2. Menuetto – Trio (F major)
  3. Finale: Allegro

Attribution

From the 19th century the Toy Symphony was long taken to be a work of Joseph Haydn, [1] however a stemmatics analysis conducted by musicologist Sonja Gerlach shows that the earliest manuscripts circulating were rather associated with Joseph Haydn's younger brother Michael Haydn. [2] [3] In 1953 musicologist Ernst Fritz Schmid published his discovery of a Cassation in G major for toys, 2 oboes, 2 horns, strings and continuo by Leopold Mozart [4] in seven movements, three of them identical to the well-known toy symphony, and concluded to have likely found the true composer. [5] This position is no longer accepted: it was rather believed that Mozart had incorporated the earlier toy symphony into his own composition, authoring only the remaining four movements. [6]

More recently (1996) the Austrian Benedictine monk Edmund Angerer  [ de ] (1740–1794) has been suggested to be the composer. [7] If Angerer's manuscript (from 1765, entitled "Berchtolds-Gaden Musick") is the original, the Toy Symphony was originally written not in G but in C major. [a] There is reason to believe that the true composer will likely never be known, in whole or in part, given its confused origins and the paucity of related manuscript sources. [8]

Other works for toy instruments

The Toy Symphony described above was one of a number of anonymous toy symphonies composed at Berchtesgaden near Salzburg, then a manufacturing centre for toy instruments. Some of the instruments used for these can be seen in the Museum Carolino Augusteum in Salzburg. [9]

Other toy symphonies, overtures and works for ensembles by named composers include:

Celebrity performances

There is a long tradition dating back to at least the 1850s of performing toy symphonies in aid of charity, featuring eminent composers, musicians and personalities. On 14 May 1880 there was such a performance (of Romberg's Toy Symphony) at St James's Hall. [19] In 1918, for the Red Cross and the Order of St John, there was a performance of Richard Blagrove's Toy Symphony (composed circa 1850s) at Queen's Hall, conducted by Landon Ronald. The performers included Edward Elgar (cymbals), Edward German (2nd violin) Myra Hess (nightingale), Benno Moiseiwitsch (triangle) Albert Sammons (2nd violin) and Irene Scharrer (nightingale). Frederick Bridge and Frederick Cowen both played rattles and C. Hayden Coffin and Mark Hambourg castanets. [20]

During the second world war at the National Galley Concert series, on New Year's Day 1940, Myra Hess put on a performance of the Toy Symphony (then still thought to be by Haydn) with performers including the Menges Quartet, Irene Scharrer (with Hess playing the cuckoos), Moiseiwitsch (quail and triangle), Joyce Grenfell and John Simons (nightingales) and Elena Gerhardt, Denise Lassimonne and William Murdoch on percussion. [21]

Malcolm Arnold's Toy Symphony was first performed at a Savoy Hotel fund raising dinner in London on 28 November 1957, with the toy instruments played by Thomas Armstrong, Edric Cundell, Gerard Hoffnung, Eileen Joyce, Steuart Wilson and Leslie Woodgate. [22] Similarly, the Jubilee Toy Symphony by Joseph Horovitz was composed for the Silver Jubilee of Elizabeth II in 1977 and featured Dame Peggy Ashcroft, Richard Baker, Joseph Cooper, Humphrey Burton, James Blades, Fenella Fielding, Nigel Kennedy, Yehudi Menuhin, Steve Race and Malcolm Williamson, among others. [23]

References

Notes

  1. ↑ See the title page, including incipit in staff notation, at "Toy Symphony, title page".

Citations

  1. ↑ Ewen, David (1965). The Complete Book of Classical Music. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall. p. 201.
  2. ↑ Gerlach, Sonja (1991). "Textkritische Untersuchungen zur Autorschaft der Kindersinfonie Hoboken II:47*". In Bennwitz, Hanspeter; et al. (eds.). Opera incerta. Echtheitsfragen als Problem musikwissenschaftlicher Gesamtausgaben. Kolloquium Mainz 1988 (in German). Stuttgart: Steiner. pp. 153–188. ISBN   3-5150-5996-2.
  3. ↑ Benstock, Seymour (14 June 2013). Did You Know?: A Music Lover's Guide to Nicknames, Titles, and Whimsy. USA: Trafford Publishing. p. 194. ISBN   9781466972926.
  4. ↑ Uncle Dave Lewis. Toy Symphony (Cassation), for toys, 2 oboes, 2 horns & strings in G major (formerly K. 63) – Leopold Mozart at AllMusic
  5. ↑ Schmid, Ernst Fritz (1953). "Leopold Mozart und die Kindersinfonie". Mozart-Jahrbuch (in German). 1951: 69–86.
  6. ↑ Landon, H. C. Robbins, ed. (1974). Leopold Mozart: Cassatio ex G : mit der "Kindersinfonie". Vienna: Doblinger. OCLC   165831577.
  7. ↑ "15. Wer komponierte die weltbekannte Kindersinfonie?". musikland-tirol.at (in German). Archived from the original on 1 March 2012. Retrieved 13 May 2018.
  8. ↑ Illing, Robert. "Haydn's Toy Symphony", in Music & Letters , vol. 78, no 1, February 1997, p. 143 JSTOR   737529
  9. ↑ Davies, Hugh (2001). "Toy instruments". Grove Music Online (8th ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.47633. ISBN   978-1-56159-263-0.(subscription required)
  10. ↑ Todd, Larry R. (2001). "Mendelssohn(-Bartholdy), (Jacob Ludwig) Felix". Grove Music Online (8th ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.51795. ISBN   978-1-56159-263-0.
  11. ↑ Symphonie burlesque, Op. 62 (Bernhard Romberg) : Scores at the International Music Score Library Project
  12. ↑ "Toy Symphonies", Naxos CD 9.81017 (2013)
  13. 1 2 3 Toy Symphonies and Other Fun at Discogs, conductor Raymond Lewenthal, Angel Records S-36080 (1975)
  14. ↑ Kindersymphonie, Op. 169 (Cornelius Gurlitt) : Scores at the International Music Score Library Project
  15. ↑ Kinder-Sinfonie, Op. 239 (Carl Reinecke) : Scores at the International Music Score Library Project
  16. ↑ Craggs, Stewart R. Malcolm Arnold: A Bio-bibliography (1998), p. 39
  17. ↑ published by UMP
  18. ↑ Johnson, Edmond T. (2013). "Toy instrument (USA)". Grove Music Online (8th ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.A2242602. ISBN   978-1-56159-263-0.
  19. ↑ Michael Allis and Paul Watt. The Reminiscences and Selected Criticism of Herbert Thompson (2024)
  20. ↑ Brian Rees. Edward German: A Musical Peacemaker (1986)
  21. ↑ Jessica Duchan. Myra Hess (2025), pp. 184-186
  22. ↑ "Arnold, Toy Symphony", Wise Music Classical
  23. ↑ "Horovitz, Jubilee Toy Symphony", Wise Music Classical]
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