Jeannette Morgenroth Sheerin, Ph.D. 1986

Advisor: James W. Pruett

Dissertation Title: The Symphonies of Johan Agrell (1701-1765): Sources, Style, Contexts

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Dissertation Abstract:

This study of the symphonies of the Swedish-born composer Johan Agrell includes the following material: a biography based on archival sources; an examination of the transmission of his symphonies (printed and manuscript sources, including information about the paper, copyists, provenance, and date of the principal sources), their authenticity, and their place in eighteenth- century musical life (collectors, repertories, and the size and composition of ensembles); an analysis of Agrell’s musical style; a detailed thematic catalogue; and an extensive bibliography.

Agrell studied and worked in a variety of eighteenth-century cultural environments. He attended schools in Linkoping (1712-21) and university in Uppsala (1721-23), served in the private Kapelle of Prince Maximilian of Hessen-Kassel and occasionally in the ducal ensemble in Kassel (1723- 46), and held the position of kapellmeister of the free imperial city of Nürnberg (1746-65). Of the thirty-seven symphonies ascribed to Agrell, twenty-eight are authentic. Five are of doubtful authenticity, and four are spurious; conflicts in attribution involve Brioschi, Hoffmann, Lampugnani, Locatelli, Pokorny, Reluzzi, Schaffrath, Solnitz, and Johann Stamitz. Roughly onehalf of Agrell’s authentic symphonies date from before 1750, including one conducted by Vivaldi in 1738 and six in the print of Agrell’s Op. 1 (Nürnberg: J. U. Haffner, 1746 or 1747). The most important collections of Agrell’s music are located in Stockholm, Lund, Uppsala, Darmstadt, and Berlin.

Agrell’s symphonies are predominantly Classic in style and structure. His increasingly flexible treatment of register and texture, supple manipulation of phrasing, sophisticated development techniques, expressive harmonic language, and careful planning of cadences all provide movement to counteract the frequent articulations of his characteristic concatenation of short, contrasting melodic and rhythmic ideas. Agrell composed eleven symphonies containing four to six movements, strongly preferred binary designs, based many movements on dance styles, and wrote many passages for two winds plus continuo. His symphonies–as well as those by several composers with whom he was associated (Roman, Chelleri, Graupner, and Endler)–give impressive evidence that the orchestral suite must be reckoned as one of the most important stylistic sources and generic models of the concert symphony.