Favorite Symphony by a 1-Symphony Composer

[Florestan]

Which begs the question, how much of this associating is integral to the music or a cultural overlay?

That is the question...

[abidoful]

Why?

Why? Your plain "why ?"baffles me
Maybe "social message" even isn't the right epithet for the phenomenom i'm thinking of.
When  i think Chopin at this stage /late 1830's) sonata was something he  was IMO littlel uncomfortable with. Too "classical", old-fashioned. But since he clearkly had decided to devote his energies writing only solo piano music perhaps it was to happen sooner or later he had to try the sonata. And when he did, well; very a'la Chopin it was! Yes maybe I'm reading too much to the choise of key, but I've always found that work a little toung-in to cheek, over the top over gloomy and moody. Of course it isn't just that, but still; a little provocative.

And about keys in general, when I wrote as a teenager (careful of not boasting now...) a violin sonata in c-minor, I was very aware of the Grieg sonata in that same key. And I seem to notice the similar kind of awareness with the Rachmaninov cello sonata, written in the same key of  g-minor as chopin's.
And think of Nikolai Medtner's sonat-ballade in F sharp, where he quotes Chopin's (well, I seem to be very aware of music connected with this composer) Barcarolle---yes, written in that same key!
Well, this subject is a very shady one admittedly. But still,perhaps  there's something there? I wonder what Sibelius meant when he said that" the air is full of summer and C-major" (hope i didn't misquote----anyway the though, that's what counts). He might only be thinking of his Third Symphony. Though he had synesthetic experiences, although that's not what i'm talking of. Really, I' dont know what i'm talking of
Over and out.

[eyeresist]

When  i think Chopin at this stage /late 1830's) sonata was something he  was IMO littlel uncomfortable with. Too "classical", old-fashioned. But since he clearkly had decided to devote his energies writing only solo piano music perhaps it was to happen sooner or later he had to try the sonata. And when he did, well; very a'la Chopin it was! Yes maybe I'm reading too much to the choise of key, but I've always found that work a little toung-in to cheek, over the top over gloomy and moody. Of course it isn't just that, but still; a little provocative.

He certainly was something of a Gloomy Gus, our Frederic.

[Florestan]

Would you agree, or rather not?

[Sergeant Rock]

Would you agree, or rather not?

"A minor:   Pious womanliness and tenderness of character."

Yes, that certainly describes the stomping march of Mahler's Sixth 

Sarge

[starrynight]

There's a reason that Beethoven 5 is in C minor and 9 is in D minor, and its roots are in Beethoven's mind and his own conception of what those keys 'felt like' or 'meant' or whatever. The different tones of the two works are reflected in (not caused by) the key choices, and therefore those who prefer no. 9 to no. 5 may well be more likely to prefer the tone of many D minor works to that of many C minor ones.

Beethoven at a particular time in his life may well have had a particular view of certain keys.  But how he viewed them could well have changed somewhat through his life, giving greater or lesser importance to particular approaches or exploring the harmonic possibilities in different ways.  And I'm not sure most listeners are conscious of preferring particular keys.  A classical work normally doesn't just stay in one key anyway, and a listener may actually be intrigued by hearing a less familiar key as well.  Some instruments may be associated with particular keys for technical reasons, but even this can be modified over time as instruments change.

[Sergeant Rock]

D# Minor (Eb Minor) Feelings of the anxiety of the soul's deepest distress, of brooding despair, of blackest depresssion, of the most gloomy condition of the soul. Every fear, every hesitation of the shuddering heart, breathes out of horrible D# minor. If ghosts could speak, their speech would approximate this key.


Seems to describe pretty well Scriabin's Etude in that key (op.8 no.12), and the great Prelude and Fugue from book one of the WTC too (at least in the way it's performed by Barenboim).

Sarge

[Luke]

Beethoven at a particular time in his life may well have had a particular view of certain keys.  But how he viewed them could well have changed somewhat through his life, giving greater or lesser importance to particular approaches or exploring the harmonic possibilities in different ways.

True, and as I tried to suggest, also true of the general approach to keys over the centuries. Beethoven's sense of C minor may have changed during his lifetime; the works he composed in that key will have had their effect on subsequent composers' senses of the key too, and so on. It's rather a lovely process, actually, the way great works feed other works through the years.

And I'm not sure most listeners are conscious of preferring particular keys.

A classical work normally doesn't just stay in one key anyway

No, clearly. Though there's nothing in what I said which would suggest that it is only the tonic of the piece which I am talking about. Indeed, I mentioned a Beethoven sonata where I feel the modulation to C major is charged with key associations. Another example which springs to mind - when Strauss's Don Quixote (the piece is in D minor/major) dreams of a golden age of chivalry, he does so in a sudden, radiant move to F sharp major. The music could have gone anywhere at this point; the choice of F sharp is, it seems to me, full of the associations this key often carries, of a heavenly, distant, perfection (see Messiaen etc).

and a listener may actually be intrigued by hearing a less familiar key as well.

Perhaps.

Some instruments may be associated with particular keys for technical reasons, but even this can be modified over time as instruments change.

Of course, though personally I think the instrumental link to key choice, whilst the most easy to discuss and 'prove,' is also the least interesting because it doesn't tell us much about the composer's mind, just their technical savvy.

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

"A minor:   Pious womanliness and tenderness of character."

Yes, that certainly describes the stomping march of Mahler's Sixth 

[oldfezzi]

Getting back on topic, how about Paderewski's Symphony in A or Moszkowski's Symphony?

But there are many others:

Donald Tovey Symphony in D
Piotr Rytel  Symphony in b
Sigismond Stowjowski  Symphony in d
Oskar Lindberg  Symphony in f
Albert Rubenson  Symphony in C
Ernest Schelling Symphony in c
Paul LeBrun  Symphony in e
Edgar Bainton  Symphony in Bb
Walford Davies Symphony in G
Henri Dallier Symphony in F
Josef Hoffman Symphony in E

To name a few with some of the key signatures you've mentioned.  There are scores of others.

Jerry

[RJR]

La Mer is not a symphony.