Volume 15, June 2022
Different Strokes: Giambattista Cimador's chamber music arrangement of Mozart's Haffner (no. 35) and Paris (no. 31) Symphonies

by Mark Elliot Bergman

3. Source Material

Cimador's arrangement includes a slow movement from Mozart's Paris Symphony. However, Mozart composed multiple versions of the slow movement for this work. The version from the first edition is 58 bars long and in 3/4 time (Tyson, 1981). The more frequently performed slow movement is in 6/8 time and "is today in the Musikabteilung of the Staatsbibliothek Preussischer Kulturbesitz in Berlin" and "often referred to as 'the autograph'" (Tyson, 1981, p.18). Two versions of the 6/8 slow movement exist as part of "the autograph" with minor discrepancies. The first 6/8 version is marked Andantino and contains several corrections and crossed-out bars. This is the version used for the 1880 edition published by Breitkopf and Härtel and has become more popular of late due to its availability as a free digital download on IMSLP (the International Music Score Library Project, also known as the Petrucci Music Library, accessible at www.imslp.org). The second 6/8 version is marked Andante and is nearly identical. This version was revised sometime after the second performance on August 15, 1778 (Tyson, 1981). The most noticeable difference between the Andantino movement and the Andante movement is the harmony in bars 73 – 76. In the Andantino version, the harmony is first in major and then in minor. The Andante version reverses this. Cimador's arrangement follows the 6/8 Andante version of the slow movement, with the aforementioned passage first in minor and then in major.

The original publication indicates some flexibility in the instrumentation. The title page bears the following inscription:

The bottom two parts are written in bass clef and clearly labeled "VIOLINCELLO" and "CONTRA BASS." However, the title page suggests some flexibility in Cimador's conception of the work. It seems likely that using a double bass on the lowest part is preferable, but the use of two celli is perfectly acceptable. The words "A German Flute" are presented in very large font and referenced near the bottom of the page with a curious inscription "NB: The Flute part being very beautiful and yet not absolutely necessary accounts for the APPARENT Contradiction in the terms OBLIGATO or AD LIBITUM" (Mozart, 1805). The description is apt. The flute part is not absolutely necessary but is used to add color and beautify the string writing. The flute part occasionally parallels the flute part in the original symphony and often embellishes the music Mozart originally assigned to the wind instruments. For example, in bars 59 – 66 of the first movement, Cimador begins by copying the original flute line and then switches to an embellishment of the Oboe I part:

Figure 1: Cimador edition flute part and Mozart wind parts from Movement 1, m. 59 – 66. Note how the Cimador flute part borrows from both the Mozart flute part and the Mozart oboe part.