This article is about musical works named Sinfonietta. For chamber music groups named Sinfonietta, see
Sinfonietta (orchestra).
A sinfonietta is a
symphony that is smaller in scale (either in terms of length or the instrumental forces required), or lighter in approach than a standard symphony. Although of Italian form, the word is not genuine in that language and has seldom been used by Italian composers. It appears to have been coined in 1874 by
Joachim Raff for his Op. 188, but became common usage only in the early 20th century (
Temperley 2001).
Just as the term symphony itself can refer to pieces of music of varied size and scope, it is difficult to identify common criteria which pieces called sinfonietta share. Many of the sinfoniettas listed on this page employ larger forces and/or are longer than pieces designated symphonies, sometimes even by the same composer.
Jürg Baur's Triton-Sinfonietta: 3 Grotesken für Kammerorchester (1974)
Maciej Bałenkowski's Sinfonietta no. 1 "Time is ticking" for string orchestra (2013/2014) and Sinfonietta no. 2 "Polonia" - hommage à Wojciech Kilar for string orchestra (2017/2018)
Ernst Krenek's Sinfonietta for string orchestra, "A brasileira", Op. 131 (1952)
Ladislav Kubík's Sinfonietta No. 1 for 19 instruments (1999), No. 2, "Jacob’s Well" for orchestra (1999) and No. 3, "Gong" for mezzo-soprano, mixed choir, orchestra and electronics (2007–08)
Nikolai Myaskovsky's Sinfonietta No. 1 for small orchestra, Op. 10 (1911), No. 2 for string orchestra, Op. 32 No. 2 (1929) and No. 3 for string orchestra, Op. 68 (1946)
Krzysztof Penderecki's Sinfonietta No. 1 for string orchestra (1992), No. 2 for clarinet and strings (1994), No. 3 for string orchestra (2012) and Sinfonietta for flute and string orchestra (2019)
Matteo Zanetti's Symphonietta for string orchestra (2010)
References
Temperley, Nicholas. 2001. "Sinfonietta." The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, second edition, edited by
Stanley Sadie and
John Tyrrell. London: Macmillan Publishers.
Further reading
Alvarez, Alberto J. 2007. Sinfonietta en re de Ernesto Halffter. Málaga: Ediciones Maestro.
ISBN978-84-96644-50-2.
Bird, Steven Carl. 1985. "Folk Material and Its Relationship to Structure and Form in Janácek's Sinfonietta". Acta Janáčkiana 2:64-75.
Kemp, Ian. 1998. "Sinfonietta 1950: Colour of Design". In Hindemith-Jahrbuch/Annales Hindemith, no. 27:180–96.
Krier, Yves. 1998. "La Sinfonietta: Une introduction à l'art classique roussélien". Musurgia: Analyse et Pratique Musicales 5, nos. 3–4:163–90.
Loll, Werner. 1992. "Ein Spiel mit Moden und Traditionen: Zur Sinfonietta op. 23". Österreichische Musikzeitschrift 47, no. 4 (April): 190–98.
Palacios Nieto, María. 2006. "Nueva música sinfónica: Acogida crítica y análisis de Sinfonietta". Cuadernos de Música Iberoamericana, no. 11 ("Monográfico dedicado a Ernesto Halffter (1905–1989) en su centenario", edited by Emilio Casares Rodicio): 123–40.
Schmitz, Eugen. 1905. Max Reger's Sinfonietta. Münchner Broschüren 4. Munich: G. Müller.