Mannheim Travels to Fife
Early symphonists, and two brothers

Mannheim was arguably the birthplace of the Classical symphony, and this programme presents a symphony by one of the kick-starters of the new form, Johann Stamitz. Meanwhile in Italy, the brothers Giovanni Battista and Giuseppe Sammartini were also crucial in the early examples of the genre. In Britain, Johann Christian Bach had previously been part of the Mannheim set and also admired Scottish music; Thomas Erskine, Early of Kelly, had studied with Stamitz in Mannheim and his Symphony in C minor, alongside his ‘Maid of the Mill’ and Bach’s ‘Farewell to Lochaber’, round up the connections.