Repertoire
– Sample list of symphonies
A number of symphonies
are listed below with dates of composition indicated in parentheses.
Although not a comprehensive list, the purpose is to provide a representative
list of symphonies from influential composers over the past 250 years.
This will enable you to make connections between: the historical development
of the orchestra, the historical evolution of individual instruments,
and representative repertoire.
Classical
period (c.1750-1820’s)
Franz Joseph
Haydn (1732-1809)
Wrote 104 symphonies
that are catalogued and commonly agreed upon. A few additional works
may also be included. Following are some of the best known:
Symphony No.45, Farewell (1772)
Symphony No.94, The Surprise (1791)
Symphony No.100, Military (1794)
Symphony No.101, The Clock (1793-1794)
Symphony No.102 (1794)
Symphony No.103, Drumroll (1794-1795)
Symphony No.104, London (1795)
Wolfgang Amadeus
Mozart (1756-1791)
Wrote 41 symphonies that
have been commonly catalogued since the late 19th century. However,
additional works have been discovered, and not all works may be
attributed to Mozart. Therefore, the exact number is not without
some debate, but Mozart appears to have written at least 48 symphonies.
Symphony No.35, Haffner
(1782)
Symphony No.36, Linz (1783)
Symphony No.38, Prague (1786)
Symphony No.39 (1788)
Symphony No.40 (1788)
Symphony No.41, Jupiter (1788)
Ludwig van Beethoven
(1770-1827)
Wrote 9 symphonies
Symphony No.1 (1799-1800)
Symphony No.2 (1801-1802)
Symphony No.3, Eroica (sketches 1802, 1803)
Symphony No.4 (1806)
Symphony No.5 (sketches 1804-1806, 1807-1808)
Symphony No.6, Pastoral (1803-1808)
Symphony No.7 (1811-1812)
Symphony No.8 (1811-1812)
Symphony No.9 (sketches 1817-1818, 1822-1824)
Orchestra-History
Instruments-History
Romantic
period (c.1820’s-1900)
Franz Schubert
(1797-1828)
Wrote 7 complete symphonies,
1 unfinished symphony, and sketches for 2 symphonies.
Unfinished Symphony (1822)
The Great C-major Symphony (1825-1828)
Hector Berlioz
(1803-1869)
Wrote 4 symphonies
Symphonie fantastique (1830)
Harold en Italie (1834)
Roméo et Juliette (1839)
Grande Symphonie funèbre et triomphale (1840)
Felix Mendelssohn
(1809-1847)
Wrote 5 mature symphonies,
and a dozen Sinfonias written during his youth.
Symphony No.3, Scotch
(1842)
Symphony No.4, Italian (1833)
Symphony No.5, Reformation (1830)
Robert Schumann
(1810-1856)
Wrote 4 symphonies
Symphony No.1, Spring
(1841)
Symphony No.2 (1845-1846)
Symphony No.3, Rhenish (1850)
Symphony No.4 (1841, revised 1851)
Anton Bruckner
(1824-1896)
Wrote 9 symphonies that
are currently numbered 1-9 and two additional symphonies (No.0 and
the “study” symphony)
Symphony No.4, Romantic
(1874, second version 1880, third version 1888)
Symphony No.5 (1875-1876, revised 1877-1878)
Symphony No.6 (1879-1881)
Symphony No.7 (1881-1883, with later revisions)
Symphony No.8 (1884-1887, second version 1890)
Symphony No.9 (1887-1896, unfinished work)
Johannes Brahms
(1833-1897)
Wrote 4 symphonies
Symphony No.1 (1874-1876)
Symphony No.2 (1877)
Symphony No.3 (1882-1883)
Symphony No.4 (1884-1885)
Piotr Ilyich
Tchaikovsky (1840-1893)
Wrote 6 complete symphonies.
Sketches of the incomplete seventh symphony were used in other works,
including a piano concerto.
Symphony No.4 (1877-1878)
Symphony No.5 (1888)
Symphony No.6, Pathétique (1893)
Antonín
Dvorák (1841-1904)
Wrote 9 symphonies
Symphony No.6 (1880)
Symphony No.7 (1884-1885)
Symphony No.8 (1889)
Symphony No.9, From the New World (1893)
(Late romantic
into the 20th century)
Edward Elgar
(1857-1934)
Wrote 2 complete symphonies.
A third symphony is incomplete.
Symphony No.1 (1907-1908)
Symphony No.2 (1909-1911)
Gustav Mahler
(1860-1911)
Wrote 10 numbered symphonies
and Das Lied von der Erde which he wrote following his eighth symphony.
The compositional dates indicate Mahler’s most concentrated
work on each symphony. He continued to make revisions often years
later.
Symphony No.1 (1888)
Symphony No.2, Resurrection (1888-1894)
Symphony No.3 (1895-1896)
Symphony No.4 (1899-1900)
Symphony No.5 (1901-1902)
Symphony No.6 (1903-1904)
Symphony No.7 (1904-1905)
Symphony No.8 (1906)
Symphony No.9 (1909)
Symphony No.10 (1910, unfinished)
Jean Sibelius
(1865-1957)
Wrote 7 symphonies that
still exist. The 8th symphony was destroyed.
Symphony No.1 (1898-1899,
revised 1900)
Symphony No.2 (1901-1902)
Symphony No.3 (1904-1907)
Symphony No.4 (1910-1911)
Symphony No.5 (1915, revised 1916 and 1919)
Symphony No.6 (1918-1923)
Symphony No.7 (1924)
Sergei Rachmaninoff
(1873-1943)
Wrote 3 numbered symphonies
plus a Symphony in D minor (“Youth symphony”). He started
two additional symphonies, but these are either incomplete or compositional
sketches.
Symphony No.2 (1906-1907)
Symphony No.3 (1935-1936, revised 1938)
Orchestra-History
Instruments-History
20th
century to the present
Carl Nielsen
(1865-1931)
Wrote 6 symphonies
Symphony No.4, The Inextinguishable
(1914-1916)
Symphony No.5 (1921-1922)
Symphony No.6, Sinfonia semplice (1924-1925)
Ralph Vaughan
Williams (1872-1958)
Wrote 9 symphonies
Symphony in F minor (No.4)
(1931-1934, many later revisions)
Symphony in D major (No.5) (1936, 1938-1943, revised 1951)
Symphony in E minor (No.6) (c.1944-1947, revised 1950)
Arnold Schoenberg
(1874-1951)
Wrote 2 chamber symphonies
Chamber Symphony No.1
(1906, for full orchestra in 1935)
Charles Ives
(1874-1954)
Wrote 4 symphonies
Symphony No.4 (c.1912-1918,
c.1921-1925)
Igor Stravinsky
(1882-1971)
Wrote 5 works called
symphonies
Symphony in C (1938-1940)
Symphony in Three Movements (1942-1945)
Bohuslav Martinu
(1890-1959)
Wrote 6 symphonies
Symphony No.6 Fantaisies
symphoniques (1951-1953)
Serge Prokofiev
(1891-1953)
Wrote 7 symphonies and 1 unpublished
Symphony No.1 Classical
(1916-1917)
Symphony No.5 (1944)
Symphony No.6 (1945-1947)
Walter Piston
(1894-1976)
Wrote 8 symphonies
Symphony No.2 (1943)
Symphony No.6 (1955)
Paul Hindemith
(1895-1963)
Wrote 4 symphonies
Symphony, Mathis der
Maler (1933-1934)
Howard Hanson
(1896-1981)
Wrote 7 symphonies
Symphony No.4, Requiem
(1943)
Roger Sessions
(1896-1985)
Wrote 9 symphonies
Symphony No.2 (1944-1946)
Aaron Copland
(1900-1990)
Wrote 3 symphonies (No.1-3), Dance Symphony, and Symphony for organ
and orchestra
Short Symphony (No.2)
(1932-1933)
William Walton
(1902-1983)
Wrote 2 symphonies
Symphony No.1 (1931-1935)
Dmitri Shostakovich
(1906-1975)
Wrote 15 symphonies
Symphony No.1 (1924-1925)
Symphony No.4 (1935-1936, later revisions)
Symphony No.5 (1937)
Symphony No.7, Leningrad (1941)
Symphony No.8 (1943)
Symphony No.10 (1953)
Symphony No.15 (1971)
William Schuman
(1910-1992)
Wrote 10 symphonies
Symphony No.3 (1941)
Symphony No.6 (1948-1949)
Henryk Górecki
(1933- )
Wrote 3 symphonies. The
second includes chorus, and the third features a vocal soloist.
Symphony No.1 “1959”
(1959)
Symphony No.3 Symphony of sorrowful songs (1976)
Orchestra-History
Instruments-History
