Fils: The Periodical Overture in 8 parts No. 8

Description

In the course of publishing the first six symphonies that launched the Periodical Overtures, Robert Bremner (c.1713–1789) sometimes jettisoned a minuet movement from a continental source in order to conform to a standard three-movement model. However, Bremner deviated from that pattern in "Op. II," the second group of six works. The Periodical Overture in 8 Parts No. 8 is a four-movement composition, as had also been true for the seventh symphony issued a month earlier. in addition to this new trend, Bremner also "repeated" a composer, Anton Fils (1733–1760), who had been previously featured as the author of Periodical Overture No. 4. Posterity now regards Fils as one of the innovators of the expanded four-movement symphonic structure, which he used in approximately sixty percent of his symphonies, and he also was one of the first to employ a contrasting theme in the slow movements—another trait that is present in Periodical Overture No. 8. It is likely that his earlier work in Bremner's series had been well received, since Britain was rapidly developing an avid taste for the flashy orchestral effects introduced by the Mannheim school of composers.