This F major work is among the earliest of the one hundred-plus symphonies by part-time Forest-Warden, raconteur, Court Official and Kapellmeister Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf (1739-99) to have been published and performed widely throughout Europe during the late eighteenth century. Although small in stature, and of little more than twenty minutes' overall duration, this symphony (originally these works were titled "Sinfonias") is nevertheless a beautifully styled instance of Dittersdorf's transitional style of symphonic composition. It is generally thought to have been written during the early 1760s, but the first direct reference to the piece is to be found in an advertisement feature for Breikopf's thematic catalog for the year 1766.

Despite its compact and elegant proportions, however, this little symphony is not without a certain grandeur and dramatic impulse. The first of the four movements, a lively Allegro, is in the usual sonata form. The exposition section opens with a widely-thrown if simply etched melody in the violins, but after just a few measures, this first subject theme builds impressively as Dittersdorf makes use of the infamous Mannheim Rocket—an exciting crescendo effect originally introduced by composers active at the Mannheim Court of Elector Carl Theodor of the Palatinate, and very widely emulated by composers elsewhere.

But Dittersdorf also lays out his own Viennese credentials unmistakably when, after the normal exposition repeat, a text-book development section follows, in which the earlier motifs are more fully explored, but with a strong emphasis on the alternation of major and minor modes, in a manner typical of Austro-Hungarian folk music. This in turn leads to a block-repeat of the principal ideas in the recapitulation.

Perhaps the most unexpected feature in this slender work (in full, less than thirteen minutes in duration) is the Andante slow movement. The sorrowful main idea is given to the violins, but Dittersdorf's setting looks back to High Baroque austerity, strains of which are felt in the tight-knit harmonies and terse cadence points. However, this is also a true Andante, designed to be played at a fairly brisk walking pace, a feature entirely characteristic of symphonic "slow" movements of the period. This one is in straightforward bi-partite form, and is scored for strings alone, as the pairs of oboes and horns remain tacet throughout.

The third movement is the expected Minuet and Trio, by now an established feature of most, if not all, Classical symphonies. The main minuet themes are given to the violins, but the oboes and horns who offer occasional comments on the proceedings are once again silenced in the central trio section, which recalls the French Musette style.

The concluding movement is a Rondo (with the tempo indication of Presto), which is in the lively "hunting" style which was enormously popular at the time. Although basically monothematic, Dittersdorf ensures that the material, though tuneful and unpretentious, is used as thoroughly as possible in a movement which lasts for little more than one hundred seconds! Listeners will notice the high-register "Hunting Horn" effects which punctuate the texture. These were a feature in many symphonies at the time, but despite their apparent simplicity, these high notes were normally extremely difficult to play accurately on the primitive hand-stopped valve-less instruments then available.

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