Lost music to be aired after 80 years

Harpist Julia Somerville played a section of The Edinburgh Symphony

A composer's long lost musical tribute to Edinburgh has been played for the first time in 80 years.

An excerpt from a symphony written by Dutch-German composer Julius Rontgen, a friend of Johannes Brahms, was last aired at the city's Usher Hall in 1930.

Harpist Julia Somerville played an extract from The Edinburgh Symphony in the university library on Thursday.

Rontgen gave the composition to the institution when it awarded him an honorary degree.

At the time the piece was conducted by Sir Donald Francis Tovey, former Reid professor of music at Edinburgh University, with Rontgen listening in the audience.

'Special symphony'

The symphony went missing in the 1930s and was only found recently in the university's main library.

The Edinburgh tribute turned out to be one of Rontgen's last major works. He died two years later, aged 77.

Two years after Rontgen's death, Sir Donald described him as "one of the greatest masters of absolute music I have ever known".

Richard Witts, an Edinburgh University music lecturer, discovered the full score and the orchestra parts while he was researching the archive of Sir Donald, who was also the founder of the Reid Symphony Orchestra.

Mr Witts said: "This is a really exciting find, now we can once again hear this special symphony in Edinburgh."

Experts at Edinburgh University's music department said it was a major find for the city, and are hoping to recreate a performance of the symphony at the Usher Hall in the near future.