Dittersdorf autobiography
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Allan Badley 1998 (AE130)
E2 (Grave E-3, Krebs 17):
F1 (Grave F-3, Krebs 25):
F2 (Grave F-5, Krebs 28):
F3 ‘Andromède sauvée par Persée, Metamorphoses IV’ (Grave F-8, Krebs 76):
F4 (Grave F-9, Krebs 10): ed. His characteristic symphonies, which could draw their material both from elevated literature and crude caricatures of people, could sometimes divert strongly from the generic symphonic template.
In this book, Dittersdorf describes his childhood, his musical education, his travels, and his experiences as a musician. Until now, only a minute selection of Dittersdorf’s symphonic corpus has been available in modern editions. After having been dormant for a long time, the project was revived as The Dittersdorf Symphony Project in 2024.
During his last years of increasingly poor health, he worked for Baron Ignaz von Stillfried in Southern Bohemia. He was laid to rest in the nearby town of Deštná.
Notable Compositions
Dittersdorf's works, influenced by Italian classicism, are renowned for their originality and musicality.
Even more importantly, his autobiography, which was finished with the help of his son shortly before his death, is one of our most important primary sources about the realities of musical life in this era.
Dittersdorf was the most prolific composer of symphonies in the Viennese cultural sphere in his lifetime, as well as one of the finest.
In 1794, he was invited by Baron Ignaz von Stillfried to live at the Červená Lhota in southern Bohemia; there he spent his final decade overseeing operatic productions, and compiling and editing his own music for publication.
He died in 1799 and was buried in the town of Deštná.
ARTHUR DUKE COLERIDGE (1 February 1830 - 29 October 1913) was a 19th-century English lawyer who, as an amateur musician with influential connections, was the founder of The Bach Choir in 1865, the UK version of the Mendelssohn Scholarship, and introduced the Mass in B minor by Johann Sebastian Bach to the English concert repertoire.
Allan Badley 1998 (AE132)
F5 (Grave F-12, Krebs 31):
F6 (Grave F-14, Krebs 9): In preparation
F7 (Grave F-15, Krebs 4): ed. His most popular work, the German comic opera "Doktor und Apotheker" (1786), remains a beloved masterpiece.
The Autobiography of Karl Von Dittersdorf is a book written by Karl Von Dittersdorf and published in 1896.
Amongst the great Viennese symphonists of his era he was arguably the only one native to the city, yet perhaps the one that spent the most time away from the it.
Young Carl Ditters was a prodigious virtuoso on the violin already as a child, and it was in this position that he first made a name for himself, securing himself a position as violinist in the orchestra of Prince Joseph Friedrich von Sachsen-Hildburghausen.
Dittersdorf is regarded as one of the progenitors of the Teutonophone operatic tradition, largely on account of his Singspiel Der Apotheker und der Doktor (more commonly known as Doktor und Apotheker), which during its original run in Vienna during the summer of 1786 out-competed Mozart’s newest opera Le nozze di Figaro.
Allan Badley 1998 (AE135)
C6 (Grave C-10):
C7 (Grave C-11):
C8 (Grave C-12, Krebs 90):
C9 (Grave C-15, Krebs 2):
C10 (Grave C-16, Krebs 19):
C11 (Grave C-17):
C12 (Grave C-18, Krebs 66 & 114):
C13 (Grave C-19, Krebs 93):
C14 (Grave C-20, Krebs 85):
C15 (Grave C-9, Krebs 1):
C16 (Grave C-14, Krebs 7):
C17 ‘Les quatres âges du monde, Metamorphoses I’ (Grave C-23, Krebs 73):
D1 ‘La chûte de Phaèton, Metamorphoses II’ (Grave D-1, Krebs 74):
D2 (Grave D-2, Krebs 106): ed.
Dittersdorf’s symphonies have been catalogued several times. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions, that are true to their original work.
The Autobiography of Karl von Dittersdorf
CARL DITTERS VON DITTERSDORF (2 November 1739 - 24 October 1799) was an Austrian composer, violinist and silvologist.
Born in the Laimgrube (now Mariahilf) district of Vienna, Austria as August Carl Ditters, his father was a military tailor in the Austrian Imperial Army of Charles VI.
Educated at a Jesuit school, in 1745 the six-year-old August Karl was introduced to the violin and began receiving private tutelage in music, violin, French and religion.
In 1764, Ditters assumed the post of Kapellmeister at the court of Ádám Patachich, Hungarian nobleman and Bishop of Nagyvárad (Romania). Shortly before his passing, Dittersdorf completed an autobiography that he dictated to his son.
In 1771 he became Hofkomponist (court composer) at the Château Jánský vrch (Johannesberg) in Javorník (today part of the Czech Republic) where he wrote symphonies, string quartets and other chamber music, and opere buffe over the next 20 years.
In 1773 the prince-bishop appointed him Amtshauptmann of nearby Jeseník (Freiwaldau), and he was sent to Vienna and given the noble title of von Dittersdorf.
Allan Badley 1998 (AE137)
B♭6 (Grave B♭-11, Krebs 11):
B♭7 (Grave B♭-13, Krebs 14, 53, 122):
a1 (Grave a-1, Krebs 95):
a2 ‘Il deliro delli compositori’ (Grave a-2, Krebs 68): ed. Dittersdorf's successes during this period even awarded him an interview with Emperor Joseph II, which Dittersdorf later recounted to great detail both in the journal Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung and in his own autobiography.
Dittersdorf was estranged from Prince-Bishop Schafgotsch following a dispute in 1794, and the latter’s death the following year made a reconciliation impossible.
Allan Badley 1998 (AE131)
E♭10 (Grave E♭-22, Krebs 69):
E♭11 (Grave E♭-24, Krebs 23):
E1 (Grave E-1, Krebs 22): ed. Born at Ottery St Mary, Devon and educated at Eton College, his connections with German music also led him to translate German works such as Heinrich Kreissle von Hellborn’s biography of composer Franz Schubert and the Goethe play Egmont, which inspired one of Beethoven’s popular overtures.
In 1787 his six Ovid symphonies were performed in the Augarten in Vienna – Baron Gottfried van Swieten (1733–1803), the most demanding lover of music in Vienna and a key figure in the late careers of both Mozart and Haydn, bought one-hundred tickets for the event. He composed over 120 symphonies, including the programmatic "Metamorphoses of Ovid" symphonies, which depict mythological scenes through music.