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

7. Dynamics

Unlike the source material, Cimador makes use of pp and ff dynamics for contrast. The exaggerated dynamics are most noticeable in the flute part, which uses four ff dynamic markings in the first movement. Perhaps Cimador was concerned about the flute's ability to project. Also, in the first movement, Cimador notates pp in m.67 and ff in m.105 where the source material indicates a more restrained p and f, respectively.

Cimador's work can hardly be described as "Romantic," but it is worth pointing out that his edition was released around the same time Beethoven composed the Eroica symphony (1802 – 1804) and remained in print until the year of Beethoven's death (1827). In this context, one can understand Cimador's use of expanded dynamics, fuller string textures, and more strongly articulated gestures relative to the source material as part of the cultural and aesthetic zeitgeist that would come to define European concert music of the 19th century.