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3 LP's
- D170D3 - (p) 1980
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![](../Copertine/Oiseau-Lyre-Mozart/Volume-04-CD-417-841-2-300.jpg) |
3 CD's -
417 841-2 - (c) 1987 |
![](../Copertine/Oiseau-Lyre-Mozart/Le-Sinfonie-Complete-480-2577-300.jpg) |
19 CD's
- 480 2577 - (p & c) 2009 |
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The Symphonies
- Vol. 4 - Salzburg 1773-1775 |
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Wolfgang
Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) |
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Long Playing
1 |
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58' 40" |
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Symphony No. 25
in G Minor, K. 183 / K. 173dB |
27' 53" |
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-
[Allegro con brio · Andante ·
Menuetto & Trio · Allegro] |
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Symphony No. 29
in A Major, K. 201 / K. 186 |
30' 47" |
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[Allegro moderato · Andante ·
Menuetto & Trio · Allegro con
spirito] |
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Long Playing
2
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53' 17" |
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Symphony
No. 30 in D Major, K. 202 / K.
186b |
25' 06" |
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- [Molto allegro ·
Andantino con moto · Menuetto
& Trio · Presto] |
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Symphony
(Serenade) in D Major, K. 203 / K.
189b |
28' 11" |
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- [Andante
maestoso-Allegro assai · Andante ·
Menuetto & Trio · Prestissimo] |
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Long Playing
3 |
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57' 28" |
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Symphony
No. 28 in C Major, K. 200 / K.
189k |
25' 24" |
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- [Allegro
spiritoso · Andante · Menuetto
(Allegretto) & Trio · Presto] |
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Symphony
No. 51 in D Major, K. 121 / K.
207a
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6' 54" |
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- [Allegro molto ·
Andante grazioso · Allegro] |
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Symphony
in D Major, K. 204 / K. 213a |
25' 10" |
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- [Allegro assai ·
Andante · Menuetto & Trio ·
Allegro] |
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THE ACADEMY OF ANCIENT MUSIC
(on authentic instruments) A=430 - directed
by
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Jaap Schröder,
Concert Master |
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Christopher
Hogwood, Continuo |
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The size of the
orchestra used during these
recordings was 9 first
violins, 8 second violins, 4 violas,
3 cellos, 2 double basses, 2 flutes,
2 oboes, 3 bassoons, 2 trumpets, 4
horns and timpani and was made up
from the following players:
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Violins
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Jaap
Schröder
(Antonio Stradivarius, 1709) - Catherine
Mackintosh (Rowland Ross 1978,
Amati) - Simon Standage
(Rogeri, Brescia 1699) - Monica
Huggett (Rowland Ross 1977
[Stradivarius]) - Elizabeth
Wilcock (Grancino, Cremona
1652) - Roy Goodman (Rowland
Ross 1977 [Stradivarius]) - David
Woodcock (Anon., circa 1775) -
Joan Brickley (Mittewald,
circa 1780) - Judith Falkus
(Eberle, Prague, 1733) - Christopher
Hirons (Duke, circa 1775) - John
Holloway (Sebastian Kloz 1750)
- Polly Waterfield (Rowland
Ross 1979 [Amati] & John Johnson
1750) - Micaela Comberti
(Anon., England, circa 1740) - Miles
Golding (Anon., Austria, circa
1780) - Kay Usher (Anon.,
England, circa 1750) - Julie
Miller (Anon., France, circa
1745) - Susan Carpenter-Jacobs
(Franco Giraud 1978 [Amati]) - Robin
Stowell (David Hopf, circa
1780) - Richard Walz (David
Rubio 1977 [Stradivarius]) - Judith
Garside (Anon., France, circa
1730) - Rachel Isserlis
(John Johnson 1759)
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Violas
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Jan Schlapp
(Joseph Hill 1770) - Trevor Jones
(Rowland Ross 1977 [Stradivarius]) - Katherine
Hart (Charles and Samuel Thompson
1750) - Colin Kitching (Rowland Ross
1978 [Stradivarius]) - Philip Wilby
(Carrass Topham 1974 [Gasparo da Salo]) - Annette
Isserlis (Eberle, circa 1740 & Ian
Clarke 1978 [Guarnieri]) - Simon
Rowland-Jones (Anon., England, circa
1810) |
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Violoncellos |
Anthony
Pleeth (David Rubio 1977
[Stradivarius]) - Richard Webb
(David Rubio 1975 [Januarius
Gagliano]) - Mark Caudle
(Anon., England, circa 1700) - Juliette
Lehwalder (Jacob Hanyes 1745) |
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Double
Basses
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Barry
Guy (The Tarisio, Gasparo da
Salo 1560) - Peter McCarthy
(David Tecler, circa 1725 &
Anon., England, circa 1770) |
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Flutes
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Stephen
Preston (Anon., France, circe
1790) - Nicholas McGegan
(George Astor, circa 1790) - Lisa
Beznosiuk (Goulding, London,
circa 1805) |
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Oboes
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Stanley
King (Jakob Grundmann 1799
& Rudolf Tutz 1978 [Grundmann])
- Clare Shanks (W. Milhouse,
circa 1760) - Sophia McKenna
(W. Milhouse, circa 1760) - David
Reichenberg (Harry Vas Dias
1978 [Grassi]) |
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Bassoons
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Jeremy
Ward (Porthaux, Paris, circa
1780) - Felix Warnock
(Savary jeune 1820) - Alastair
Mitchell (W. Milhouse, circa
1810) |
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Natural
Horns
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William
Prince (Courtois neveu, circa
1800) - Keith Maries
(Courtois neveu, circa 1800 &
Anon., Germany (?), circa 1785) - Christian
Rutherford (Courtois neveu,
circa 1800 & Kelhermann, Paris
1810) - Roderick Shaw
(Raoux, circa 1830) |
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Natural
Trumpets
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Michael
Laird (Laird 1977 [German]) -
Iaan Wilson (Laird 1977
[German]) - Malcom Smith
(Laird 1977 [German]) |
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Timpani
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David
Corkhill (Hawkes & Son,
circa 1890) - Charles Fulbrook
(Hawkes & Son, circa 1890) - David
Stirling (Hawkes & Son,
circa 1890) |
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Harpsichord
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Christopher
Hogwood (Thomas Culliford,
London 1782) |
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Luogo
e data di registrazione |
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St.
Paul's, New Southgate, London
(United Kingdom):
- marzo 1979 (K, 202, 203, 200,
204)
- giugno 1979 (K. 183, 201, 121)
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Registrazione: live /
studio |
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studio |
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Producer / Engineer |
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Morten
Winding / John Dunkerley &
Simon Eadon
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Prima Edizione LP |
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Oiseau
Lyre - D170D3 (3 LP's) - durata
58' 40" | 53' 17" | 57' 28" - (p)
1980 - Analogico
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Prima Edizione CD |
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Oiseau
Lyre - 417 841-2 (3 CD's) - durata
58' 40" | 53' 17" | 57' 28" - (c)
1987 - ADD |
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Edizione Integrale CD |
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Decca
(Editions de l'Oiseau-Lyre) - 480
2577 (19 CD's) - (p & c) 2009
- ADD / DDD
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Note |
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Mozart
and the symphonic
traditions of his
time by Neal
Zaslaw
Salzburg
and its Orchestra
Some time between 1772 and
1777 the musician and
writer Christian Friedrich
Daniel Schubart visited
Salzburg and reported:
'For several centuries
this archbishopric has
served the cause of music
well. They have a musical
endowment there that
amounts to 50,000 florins
annually, and is spent
entirely in the support of
a group of musicians. The
musical establishment in
their cathedral is one of
the best manned in all the
German-speaking lands.
Their organ is
among the most excellent
that exists: what a pity
that it is not given life
by the hand of a Bach!...
'Their [Vize]kapellmeister
Mozart (the father)
has placed the musical
establishment on a
splendid footing. He
himself is known as an
esteemed composer and
author. His style is
somewhat old-fashioned,
but well founded and full
of contrapuntal
understanding. His church
music is of greater value
than his chamber music.
Through his treatise on
violin playing, which is
written in very good
German and intelligently
organized, he has earned
great honour...
'His son has
become even more famous
than his father. He is one
of the most precocious
musical minds, for as
early as his eleventh year
he had composed an opera
[La finta semplice]
that was well received by
all the connoisseurs. This
son is also one of the
best of our [German]
keyboard players. He plays
with magical dexterity,
and sight-reads so
accurately that his equal
in this regard is scarcely
to be found.
'The choirs in
Salzburg are excellently
organized, but in recent
times the ecclesiastical
musical style has begun to
deteriorate into the
theatrical - an epidemic
that has already infected
more than one church! The
Salzburgers are especially
distinguished in wind
instruments. One finds
there the most admirable
trumpet- and horn-players,
but players of the organ
and other keyboard
instruments are rare. The
Salzburger's spirit is
exceedingly inclined to
low humour. Their folk
songs are so comical and
burlesque that one cannot
listen to them without
side-splitting laughter.
The Punch-and-Judy
spirit shines through
everywhere, and the
melodies are mostly
excellent and inimitably
beautiful'.
(One must keep in mind in
reading this account that
the Archbishop of Salzburg
was both a clergyman and a
temporal ruler; hence the
church and court musicians
were one and the same.)
During the same period
that Schubart visited
Salzburg, Charles Burney
published a report sent
from there in November
1772 by an unidentified
writer who (whatever else
he may have been) was
clearly not an admirer
of Mozart's
orchestral music:
'The archbishop and
sovereign of Saltzburg
[sic] is very
magnificent in his support
of music, having usually
near a hundred performers,
vocal and instrumental, in
his service. This prince
is himself a dilettante,
and good performer on the
violin; he has lately been
at great pains to reform
his band, which has been
accused of being more
remarkable for coarseness
and noise, than delicacy
and high-finishing.
Signor Fischietti, author
of several comic operas,
is at present the director
of this band.
“The Mozart family were
all at Saltzburg last
summer; the father has
long been in the service
of the court, and the son
is now one of the band...
I went to his father's
house to hear him and his
sister play duets on the
same harpsichord... and...
if I may judge of the
music which I heard of his
composition, in the
orchestra, he is one
further instance of early
fruit being more
extraordinary
than excellent'.
Mozart's opinion of the
Salzburg orchestra was far
from enthusiastic. He had
heard the great orchestras
of Mannheim, Turin, Milan,
and Naples, and he knew
that the Salzburg
orchestra, although
moderately large for its
time, was too often
second-rate in its
execution. Writing to his
father from Mannheim in
1778, he compared the
fabulous orchestra there
with their own:
'Ah,
if only we too had
clarinets! You cannot
imagine the glorious
effect of a symphony with
flutes, oboes, and
clarinets. I shall have
much that is new to tell
the Archbishop at my first
audience, and perhaps a
few suggestions to make as
well. Ah, how much finer
and better our orchestra
might be, if only the
Archbishop desired it.
Probably the chief reason
why it is not better is
because there are far too
many performances. I
have no objection to the
chamber music, only to the
concerts
on a larger scale'.
The truth about the
quality of the Salzburg
orchestra undoubtedly
lay somewhere between
Schubart's glowing
appraisal and Mozart's
frequent complaints. As
for its strength, the
official roster of court
musicians published in
the Salzburger Hofkalender
für
1775 shows Joseph
Lolli and Dominicus
Fischietti, both
Kapellmeister, Leopold
Mozart, Vizekapellmeister,
Michael Haydn and
Wolfgang Mozart, both Conzertmeister,
as well as 3 organists,
8 violinists, 1 cellist,
3 double bass players, 2
bassoonists, 3 oboists,
and 3 hunting horn
players. Even a casual
examination of this list
suggests that something
is missing, for Mozart's
Salzburg works often
include parts for
flutes, trumpets, and
timpani, as well as
divided viola parts and
an additional horn. It
appears that several of
these 33 musicians
played more than one
instrument, and there
were others who could be
- and were - called upon
to supplement the
orchestra. These
included the town waits,
the trumpet - and
kettle-drum players of
the Archbishop's army,
and various amateur
performers whose
principal posts at court
were non-musical. Thus
the make-up of the
Salzburg orchestra
varied widely from
season to season and
from occasion to
occasion. As we have
reconstituted the
orchestra for these
recordings, it is as it
may have been heard at
festive occasions during
the year: the strings
9-8-4-3-2, and the
necessary woodwind,
brass, kettle drums and
harpsichord, with 3
bassoons doubling the
bass line whenever
obbligato parts for them
are lacking.
The Symphony as a
Genre
After Beethoven, the
symphony was the most
important large-scale
instrumental genre for
the Romantic composers.
Their conception of the
symphony as an extended
work of the utmost
seriousness, intended as
the centrepiece of a
concert, is very far
from what the musicians
of the second half of
the 18th century had in
mind for their
symphonies. This can be
seen by comparing the
large number of
symphonies turned out
then with the handful
written by the major
19th-century
symphonists. It
can also be seen in the
small number and brevity
of passages devoted to
symphonies in the
newspaper accounts,
memoires and
correspondence of the
period. And it can be
seen in the uses to
which 18th-century
symphonies were put.
'Sinfonia' and
'overtura' or
'ouverture' were
synonymous terms and
concepts then. Planelli
writing in 1772 gave a
typically simple Italian
definition: 'All the
symphonies that serve
[operas] as overtures
are cast from the same
die, and are inevitably
made up of a solemn
grouping of an allegro,
a largo, and a dance'.
The French naturalist
and composer Étienne
de la Ville, Comte de
Lacépède, a
decade later began by
elaborating on
essentially the same
definition: 'A symphony
is ordinarily made up of
3 movements: the first
is more noble, more
majestic, more imposing;
the second slower, more
touching, more pathetic
or more charming; and
the third more rapid,
more tumultuous, more
lively, more animated or
more gay, than the other
two'. He then presented
a characteristic French
notion that a good
symphony must be
dramatic and even
programmatic: ‘The first
movement, that which we
call the allegro
of the symphony, should
present, so to speak,
its overture and the
first scenes; in the andante
or the second movement,
the musician should
place the portrayal of
terrible happenings,
dangerous passions, or
charming objects, which
should serve as the
basis for the piece; and
the last movement, to
which we commonly give
the name presto,
should offer the last
effort of these
frightful or touching
passions. The dénouement
should also be shown
here, and one should see
subsequently the
sadness, fright and
consternation that a
fatal catastrophe
inspires, or the joy,
happiness and ecstasy to
which charming and happy
events give birth...'
Then follow several
pages in this vein,
suggesting how the
scenarios of such
programmatic symphonies
might be handled.
From Germany Schubart
embellished the basic
Italian definition in a
different way: 'This
genre of music
originated from the
overtures of musical
dramas, and came finally
to be performed in
private concerts. As a
rule it consists of an
allegro, an andante, and
a presto. However, our
artists are no longer
bound to this form, and
often depart from it
with great effect.
Symphony in the present
fashion is, as it were,
loud preparation for and
vigorous introduction to
hearing a concert'. In
Mozart's case the most
familiar departure from
the 3-movement
format was the insertion
of a minuet and trio
between the andante and
the finale. This is a
characteristic Austrian
development, and Mozart
not infrequently converted
one of his Italian
symphonies to an Austrian
one by the simple
expedient of adding a
minuet and trio.
Mozart wrote his
symphonies as
curtainraisers to plays,
operas, cantatas,
oratorios, and private and
public concerts. He
sometimes also used them
to end concerts, or even
to begin and end each half
of a long concert. Judging
by the number of
symphonies he wrote in
Salzburg (or those that he
wrote for Italy
and then used in
Salzburg), there must have
been a steady demand for
them there. During the
4-year period 1770-73
alone he wrote 28
symphonies. This
outpouring can be
explained at least in part
by the death of the
Archbishop Sigismund
Christoph von
Schrattenbach in December
1771, which meant that a
period of mourning
prohibited theatrical
entertainments during Fasching
(carnival) and that
concerts would have
provided a substitute form
of entertainment. It also
meant that much new music
would have had to be
provided for the
festivities surrounding
the installation in March
of the new archbishop, the
despised Hieronymus
Joseph
Franz de Paula Graf
Colloredo. A further
explanation for the
surprising number of
symphonies during this
period is that Mozart was
officially promoted from
rank-and-file member of
the orchestra to the
status of Konzertmeister
on August 1772. (Was this
perhaps part of the new
archbishop's 'great pains
to reform his band', which
Burney's informant
mentioned?) Mozart's
efforts to prove himself
worthy of the appointment,
and the responsibilities
of the post once assumed,
may well explain in part
his need to write so many
symphonies. These include
- in addition to those
that, because we know of
no specific occasion for
their creation, we
(rightly or wrongly)
consider to have
originated as concert
symphonies - a number of
other concert symphonies
that Mozart fashioned from
works in other genres.
Among the latter were
opera overtures detached
unchanged from their
operas and put into
circulation, opera
overtures provided with
new finales to bring them
up to the customary 3
movements, and groups of
3, 4, or even 5 movements
drawn from orchestral
serenades.
With the arguable
exception of the last few,
Mozart's symphonies were
perhaps intended to be
witty, charming,
brilliant, and even
touching, but undoubtedly
not profound, learned, or
of great significance. The
main attractions at
concerts were not the
symphonies, but the vocal
and instrumental solos and
chamber music that the
symphonies introduced.
Approaching Mozart's
symphonies with this
attitude in mind relieves
them of a romantic
heaviness under which they
have all too often been
crushed. Thus unburdened,
they sparkle with new
lustre.
Performance Practice
The use of 18th-century
instruments with the
proper techniques of
playing them gives to the
Academy of Ancient Music a
clear, vibrant, articulate
sound. Inner voices are
clearly audible without
obscuring the principal melodies.
Rhythmic patterns and
subtle differences in
articulation are more
distinct than can usually
be heard with modern
instruments. The use of
little or no vibrato
serves further to clarify
the texture. At lively
tempos and with this
luminous timbre, the
observance of all of
Mozart's repeats no longer
makes movements seem too
long. A special instance
concerns the da capos of
the minuets, where, an
ancient oral tradition
tells us, the repeats are
always omitted. But, as we
were unable to trace that
tradition as far back as
Mozart's time, we
experimented by including
those repeats as well.
Missing instruments
understood in 18th-century
practice to be required
have been supplied: these
include bassoons playing
the bass-line along with
the cellos and double
basses, kettle drums
whenever trumpets are
present (except in the
'little' G-minor symphony,
K.183,
where chromaticism renders
their use less idiomatic)
and the harpsichord
continuo. No conductor is
needed, as the direction
of the orchestra is
divided in true
18th-century fashion
between the concertmaster
and the continuo player,
who are placed so that
they can see each other
and are visible to the
rest of the orchestra.
Following 18th-century
injunctions to separate
widely the softest and
loudest instruments, the
flutes and trumpets are
placed at opposite sides
of the orchestra. And the
first and second violins
are placed at the left and
right respectively,
making meaningful the
numerous passages Mozart
wants tossed back and
forth between them.
Musical Sources and
Editions
Until recently
performers of Mozart's
symphonies have relied
upon the editions drawn
from the old complete
works, published in the
19th century by the
Leipzig firm of
Breitkopf & Härtel.
During the past quarter
century, however, a new
complete edition of
Mozart's works (NMA)
has been slowly
appearing, published by
Bärenreiter
of Kassel under the
aegis of the Mozarteum
of Salzburg. The NMA
has been used for almost
all the symphonies from
K.128 to K.551. For the
early symphonies not yet
published in the NMA,
editions have been
created especially for
these recordings,
drawing on Mozart's
manuscripts when they
could be seen, and on
18th- and 19th-century
copies in those cases
where the autographs
were unavailable. (14 of
Mozart's symphonies are
among musical
manuscripts formerly in
the Berlin library but
now being held in Poland
and inaccessible to
Western musicologists.)
A Note
Concerning the
Numbering of Mozart's
Symphonies
The first
edition of Ludwig Ritter
von Köchel's
Chronological-Thematic
Catalogue of the
Complete Works of
Wolfgang Amaadé
Mozart was published
in 1862 (=K1).
It
listed all of the
completed works of Mozart
known to Köchel
in what he believed to be
their chronological order,
from number 1 (infant
harpsichord work) to 626
(the Requiem). The second
edition by Paul Graf von
Waldersee in 1905 involved
primarily minor
corrections and
clarifications. A
thoroughgoing revision
came first with Alfred
Einstein's third edition,
published
in 1936 (=K3).
(A reprint of this edition
with a sizeable supplement
of further corrections and
additions was published in
1946 and is sometimes
referred to as K3a.)
Einstein changed the
position of many works in
Köchel's
chronology, threw out as
spurious some works Köchel
had taken to be authentic,
and inserted as authentic
some works Köchel
believed spurious or did
not know about. He also
inserted into the
chronological scheme
incomplete works,
sketches, and works known
to have existed but now
lost. These Köchel
had
placed in an appendix (=Anhang,
abbreviated Anh.)
without chronological
order. Köchel's
original numbers could not
be changed, for they
formed the basis of
cataloguing for thousands
of publishers, libraries,
and reference works.
Therefore, the new numbers
were inserted in
chronological order
between the old ones by
adding lower-case letters.
The so-called fourth and
fifth editions were
nothing more than
unchanged reprints of the
1936 edition, without the
1946 supplement. The sixth
edition, which appeared in
1964 and was edited by
Franz Giegling, Alexander
Weinmann, and Gerd Sievers
(=K6),
continued Einstein's
innovations by adding
numbers with lower-case
letters appended, and a
few with upper-case
letters in instances in
which a work had to be
inserted into the
chronology between two of
Einstein's lowercase
insertions. (A so-called
seventh edition is an
unchanged reprint of the
sixth). Hence, many of
Mozart's works bear two K
numbers, and a few have
three.
Although it was not Köchel's
intention in devising his
catalogue, Mozart's age at
the time of composition of
a work may be calculated
with some degree of
accuracy from the K
number. (This works,
however, only for numbers
over 100). This is done by
dividing the number by 25
and adding 10. Then, if
one keeps in mind that
Mozart was born in 1756,
the year of composition is
also readily approximated.
The old Complete Works of
Mozart published 41
symphonies in 3 volumes
between 1879 and 1882,
numbered 1 to 41 according
to the chronology of K1.
Additional symphonies
appeared in supplementary
volumes and are sometimes
numbered 42 to 50,
even though they are early
works.
Bibiography
- Anderson,
Emily: The Letters
of Mozart & His
Family (London,
1966)
- Burney,
Charles: The
Present State of
Music in Germany,
The Netherlands, and
United Provinces
(London, 1773)
- Della
Croce, Luigi: Le
75 sinfonie de
Mozart (Turin,
1977)
- Eibl,
Joseph Heinze, et al.:
Mozart: Briefe und
Aufzeichnungen
(Kassel, 1962-75)
- Koch,
Heinrich: Musilcalisches
Lexikon
(Frankfort, 1802)
- Landon,
H. C. Robbins: 'La
crise romantique dans
la musique
autrichienne vers
1770: quelques
précurseurs inconnus
de la Symphonie en sol
mineur (KV 183) de
Mozart', Les
influences étrangères
dans l'oeuvre de W.
A. Mozart
(Paris, 1958)
- Larsen,
Jens
Peter: 'A Challenge to
Musicology: the
Viennese Classical
School', Current
Musicology
(1969), ix
- Mahling,
Christoph-Hellmut:
'Mozart und die
Orchesterpraxis seiner
Zeit', Mozart-Jahrbuch
(1967)
- Mila,
Massimo: Le
Sinfonie de Mozart
(Turin, 1967)
- Saint-Foix,
Georges de: Les
Symphonies de Mozart
(Paris, 1932)
- Schneider,
Otto, and Anton
Algatzy: Mozart-Handbuch
(Vienna, 1962)
- Schubart,
Ludwig: Christ, Fried.
Dan. Schubart's
Ideen zu einer
Asthetik der
Tonkunst
(Vienna, 1806)
- Schultz,
Detlef: Mozarts Jugendsinfonien
(Leipzig, 1900)
- Sulzer,
Johann
Georg: Allgemeine
Theorie der schönen
Künste
(Berlin, 1771-74)
- Zaslaw,
Neal: 'The Compleat
Orchestral Musician',
Early Music
(1979), vii/1
- Zaslaw,
Neal: 'Toward the
Revival of the
Classical Orchestra',
Proceedings of the
Royal Musical
Association
(1976-77), ciii
Copyright
© 1979 by Neal
Zaslaw
|
|
The
Symphonies of 1773-75
The 7
symphonies presented
here, written between
the time that Mozart was
17 years, 8 months old
and the time that he was
19 years, 6 months, may
be divided into 3 kinds:
4 Germanic
concert-symphonies with
minuets and repeated
sections in all
movements, each lasting
more than 25 minutes (K.
183, 200, 201, 202) ; 2
symphonies in a format
similar to the previous
4 but drawn from
orchestral serenades (K.
203, 204) ; and 1
Italianate
overture-symphony,
without a minuet and
without repeated
sections, lasting around
7 minutes, created from
an opera overture (K.
121). None of these
symphonies were printed
during Mozart's
lifetime, although 2 of
them (K. 182, 202) were
brought out as early as
1798-99.
Mozart visited
Vienna from the middle
of July
until the end of
September 1773; the
autograph manuscript of
the G-minor symphony, K.
183, is dated 5 October
1773. This symphony and
3 others (K. 201, 202,
200) are longer and more
serious than any of
Mozart's previous
symphonies, and most
commentators suggest
that this must have been
the result of the
Viennese visit. (In case
we wonder what it was
that Mozart heard in
Vienna, Charles Burney,
who spent some weeks
there in 1772, tells us
that the Viennese
composers who were
distinguishing
themselves at that time
were Hasse, Gluck,
Gassmann, Wagenseil,
Salieri, Hoffman, Haydn,
Dittersdorf, Vanhal, and
Huber.) We do not know
of particular occasions
for which any of this
tetralogy may have been
composed.
A trip to Munich to
attend the rehearsals
and performance of La
finta giardiniera
lasted from 6 December
1774 until 7 March 1775.
This journey seems to
have had an effect quite
opposite to that of the
journey to Vienna, for
afterwards Mozart
composed no further
original symphonies
prior to his visit to
Paris in 1778. This is
especially surprising in
the light of the fact
that on 16 November 1775
the Archbishop of
Salzburg opened a new
theatre, the existence
of which surely created
a demand for music to
grace the plays
presented there. It may
be an indication of
Mozart's profound
disillusionment with
Salzburg at the time
that he failed to
respond to this
opportunity.
Symphony in G minor,
K. 173dB [K.183]
Debussy once wrote of
Beethoven's Ninth
Symphony that it "has
long been surrounded by
a haze of adjectives.
Together with the Mona
Lisa's smile - which for
some strange reason has
always been labelled
"mysterious" - it is the
masterpiece about which
the most stupid comments
have been made. It's a
wonder it hasn't been
submerged entirely
beneath the mass of
words it has excited".
On a more modest scale
the same could be said
of much of the verbiage
surrounding Mozart's two
G-minor symphonies - the
famous one, K. 550, and
the so-called "Little" G
minor presented here. In
this case the adjectival
excesses are at least in
part due to the fact
that the vast majority
of 18th-century
symphonies are in major
keys and appear to
convey the optimistic
"greatness, solemnity
and stateliness"
mentioned by Kimberger,
rather than the darker,
more passionate feelings
of the G-minor works. In
addition, these excesses
result from a
melioristic view of the
history of music, which
regards Mozart's
minor-key symphonies as
adumbrations, mere
forerunners, of the
monumental symphonic
masterpieces of the
Romantic era. We are
assured by adherents to
this school of thought
that K. 183 is pre- or
proto-Romantic, that it
is the result of "the
romantic crisis in
Austrian music around
1770", and that it is a
manifestation of the
cultural trend which has
been dubbed Sturm
und Drang. This
"haze of adjectives" can
be at least partially
dissipated by attempting
to view K. 183 looking
forward from the first
two-thirds of the 18th
century, rather than
backwards from the 19th.
The contribution to the
history of music made by
the generation between
that of J.
S. Bach and that of
Wolfgang Mozart was to
create lighter, shorter,
and simpler musical
styles and genres - to
move away from the
seriousness and
monumentality of some of
the music of the
previous generation.
This lightening of
spirit is nicely
captured by the
difference between
Andreas Werckmeister's
late 17th-century
definition of music as
"a gift of God, to be
used only in His honour"
and Charles Burney's
mid-18th-century
statement, "Music is an
innocent luxury,
unnecessary, indeed, to
our existence".
The "romantic crisis"
theory is based upon the
intriguing observation
that, whereas the
symphonies of the late
1750s and
early 1760s largely
avoided the minor keys,
in the late 1760s and
early 1770s there was a
sudden production of
minor-key symphonies in
Austria by (in addition
to Mozart) Dittersdorf,
J.
Haydn, Vanhal, and Ordoñez.
Landon points out that
in contrast to most
symphonies of the
previous decade these
works have in common
more frequent use of
cotmterpoint, themes
incorporating wide
leaps, greater use of
syncopations, more
extended finales, and
more frequent occurrence
of unison passages.
(Note that - as we have
seen - virtually all of
these traits were, only
a few years later,
considered by Kirnberger
to be the normal
attributes of any
concert symphony and not
just those in minor
keys.) Unfortunately for
this theory, not a
single word occurs in
the correspondence,
diaries, or periodicals
of the period suggesting
a "romantic crisis". And
as each of the composers
mentioned wrote only 1,
2 or 3 such symphonies,
the "crisis" must have
been rapidly overcome,
certainly more quickly
and less expensively
than any cure ever
effected by
psychoanalysis.
As for Sturm und
Drang, of the key
literary works of that
"movement", Goethe's
novel Werther
dates from 1774 and
Klinger's play Sturm
und Drang from
1776, while the works in
the visual arts usually
considered
representative of "storm
and stress" - by H. Füssli,
F. Müller, J.
A. Carstens, F. Kobell,
J.
C. Reinhart, W.
Tischbein, and others -
date from even later.
Hence we are being asked
to imagine that the
prescient Austrian
musicians participated
in a cultural movement
that had yet to come
into existence. To dub
the generation that
included Bach's sons,
Mozart's father, and
Gluck (as well as
Vanhal, Ordoñez
and Dittersdorf)
"forertmners" is
antihistorical. These
talented composers did
not rise from their beds
each morning in
order to "forerun";
rather they composed
music that was
thoroughly modem and
that appealed to them
and to their
contemporaries. At first
they must have been
enchanted by the new,
light, galant style they
had helped to create.
Later perhaps, the
novelty of these sounds
and forms began to wear
off, and the musicians
sought to reintroduce
certain serious elements
of the Baroque while
maintaining other
aspects of the new
style. This stylistic
evolution is hardly a
"crisis" therefore, but
rather, as Larsen has
pointed out, "the
breakthrough of the
Classical style - the
final synthesis". This
synthesis occured in
major - as well as
minor-key works, but it
was the sombre
chromaticisms of the
latter which appealed to
Romantic critics, and it
is those works that
continue to call forth a
“haze of adjectives".
The marvellous sounds of
the minor-key symphonies
of the early 1770s were
not entirely new ones.
The opera house had long
required these
tempestuous effects to
portray nature's storms
as well as storms of
human emotion. Young
Mozart knew of them long
before he composed K.
183, for the D-minor
"sinfonia" of 1771, K.
118/74c (recorded in Box
2), is in a similar
vein, and, even more
extraordinarily, while
staying in Chelsea in
1764 he sketched into a
notebook a G-minor
keyboard piece, K. 15p,
in a quasi-orchestral
style, which already
captured the stormy
character that has been
erroneously claimed as
the invention of a later
period.
The Symphony's opening
allegro con brio in
common time and its
closing allegro in alla
breve, in addition to
their notoriously stormy
character, exhibit
large-scale sonata-form
movements with both
halves repeated and the
whole terminated by a
coda. The andante in 2/4
in E-flat major is also
in sonata form with both
halves repeated, but
without coda. Here
stormy emotions give way
to other passions,
portrayed by the
appoggiaturas of longing
and sadness. These are
tossed back and forth
between the muted
violins and the
obbligato bassoons, and
are heard in the violas,
cellos and basses as
well. An especially fine
moment occurs 8 bars
into the recapitulation,
where, in a passage not
present in the
exposition, a rising
sequence of sighs
touches upon F minor, G
minor, C minor, A-flat
major, E-flat major, and
B-flat major in rapid
succession.
Mozart originally had
begun the andante
differently but when he
had got no further than
this he must have
realized that something
was amiss (the halting
quality of the repeated
E-flats?), and he
started again with the
same initial three-note
motive carried through
in a more convincing
manner.
The minuet's stern
unisons and touches of
chromaticism contradict
all of our received
ideas about the polite
social graces of that
dance, and illustrate an
extreme example of
Koch's remarks that
"because minuets of this
type are really not for
dancing, composers have
departed from the
original conception..."
Here the four-bar
phrases and the rounded
binary form are
traditional but the
demeanour is no longer
that of a ball-room
dancer. This disparity
between what we expect
in a minuet and what
Mozart has given us is
emphasized by the
G-major trio, which is
written for Harmonie
- that is, for the
favourite Austrian
wind-band consisting of
pairs of oboes, horns,
and bassoons. The Harmonie
trio offers a breath of
fresh air and
relaxation, as it were,
placing into even
sharper relief the
character of the minuet
that flanks it.
Such wind groups
(sometimes joined by a
pair of clarinets or
English horns and
occasionally reinforced
in the bass by a
contrabass viol,
contrabassoon or
serpent) were much
employed in and around
Vienna to provide music
for banquets,
out-of-doors social
occasions, evening
serenades, and so on.
Such a group provided
Burney with dinner music
during his stay at the
Viennese Gasthof
"At the Sign of the
Golden Ox", and
a decade later Mozart
was to write a beautiful
serenade (K. 375) for
wind sextet and then be
pleasantly surprised by
itinerant musicians playing
it under his window on
his name day.
Symphony in A
major, K.186a [K.201]
The autograph manuscript
of this work is dated 6
April 1774. Much of what
was stated about the
previous symphony could
be repeated about this
one, including the
agitated and serious
character of the first
and last movements, the
use of sonata form in 3
of the 4 movements, the
contrasted character of
the andante (in this
case noble serenity
rather than longing),
the symphonic rather
than dance quality of
the minuet, and so on.
The thoroughgoing
excellence of this
symphony has long been
recognised, and it and
the previous work are
the only symphonies from
this period that have
entered the regular
repertories of many of
the major symphony
orchestras.
The first movement
begins piano, without
the more usual loud
chords or fanfare. The
opening theme consists
of an octave drop and a
group of forward-moving
quavers leading to the
next octave drop, and so
on in a rising sequence,
the whole being repeated
an octave higher, tutti,
and in canon between the
violins and the lower
strings. Several
attractive subjects of
contrasted character
appear in the dominant,
leading to a vigorous
closing section filled
with repeated notes and
arpeggios. The compact
development section,
bustling with scale-wise
passages, repeated
notes, modulations and
syncopations, leads to a
literal recapitulation.
Both halves are
repeated, and the coda,
based upon the opening
theme in canon, brings
the finely-crafted
movement to a jubilant
close.
The andante and minuet
have in common the
prominent use of dotted
and double-dotted
rhythms. Such rhythms,
characteristic of
marches and of the slow
sections of French ouvertures,
were thought to convey
stateliness, nobility
and even godliness, and
were used for that
purpose in numerous
18th-century operas and
oratorios.
Despite its
fully-worked-out sonata
form including a
development section that
Einstein described as
"the richest and most
dramatic Mozart had
written up to this
time", the finale has
the character of a chasse.
That is to say, it is a
piece based upon the
spirit of the hunt and
replete with repeated
notes and other
fanfare-like motives
idiomatic to hunting
horns. (Listeners
familiar with the
finales of Mozart's horn
concertos will know what
is meant by this.) At
the ends of the
exposition, the
development, the
recapitulation and the
coda, Mozart gives the
violins a rapid
ascending scale. One
could hardly ask for
clearer aural signposts
to articulate the formal
structure of the
movement.
We are amusingly
reminded of the perils
of ascribing intentions
to composers in their
abstract instrumental
music by the fact that
while the British
biographer of Mozart,
Dyneley Hussey, is quite
certain that this
symphony is imbued with
"tragic nobility", Otto
Jahn
has no doubt whatever
that it is "full of
cheerful humour from
beginning to end".
Symphony in D major,
K.186b [K.202]
In this symphony, dated
5 May 1774, St. Foix and
other commentators
detect a retrenchment, a
return to the sheer
entertainment and galanterie
of the earlier
symphonies after the
exceptional seriousness
of the symphonies K. 182
and 183. Whether this is
a cause for regret or
pleasure depends upon
one's aesthetic; for St.
Foix it was the former.
But why should a festive
work in D major with
trumpets be “serious"?
Who knows what gala
occasion in Salzburg may
have required just such
music as this?
The first movement is a
tightly-knit sonataform
movement with
interesting manipulation
of the common-coin trill
figure which
occurs unobtrusively on
D in the fourth bar,
with more emphasis on E
some 21 bars later, then
11 bars after that with
considerable force on A
as an interruption of a
lyrical theme, and
finally invades the
texture toward the end
of the exposition,
sounding for all the
world like a hive of
bumblebees trying to
sing polyphony.
The andantino con moto,
in diminutive sonata
form and for strings
alone, masks by the
apparent simplicity of
its graceful cantabile
melodies the great care
Mozart took to make all
four voices active and
interesting.
The minuet exudes the
spirit of the ball room,
but if we compare it
with the 16 minuets, K.
176, which Mozart wrote
for the carnival of
1774, we see at once
some striking
differences: the actual
ball-room minuets are
shorter, more
homophonic, and always
omit violas. Apparently
the simpler textures and
more foursquare phrase
structures of K. 176
were designed to be
easily perceptible in a
noisy social setting,
whereas the more
elaborate symphony
minuet was meant to have
closer attention paid
it.
The presto, which begins
with an idea derived
from the opening of the
first movement, is also
in sonata form with both
halves repeated and a coda.
The movement displays an
attractive mixture of
serious and
not-so-serious ideas.
The opening fanfare in
dotted rhythms is in the
spirit of a "quick
step". This march is
however contrasted with
patches of lyricism. And
if the development
section, with its
diminished chords and
abrupt pauses, causes us
momentarily to be quite
serious, then the
delightful way in which
the coda simply
evaporates rather than
offering a "proper"
ending reminds us that
the composer was an
18-year-old with a
well-developed sense of
humour.
Symphony in D major,
K.189b [K.203]
This symphony was
extracted from an
orchestral serenade.
That was a perfectly
logical procedure given
that the occasions for
serenades and symphonies
were different and that
the serenades were cast
in a composite form made
up of symphony and
concerto movements
prefaced by a march.
Salzburg serenades were
usually written either
for such private
occasions as parties
celebrating weddings,
birthdays or name-days,
and investitures, or for
the public celebrations
of the end of the summer
term at Saltzburg
University. Symphonies,
as we have seen, were
generally for the
church, theatre, or
concert hall. Mozart
found a means of making
one work serve two
purposes.
In the present case the
interpenetration of the
two genres is as follows
(movements used in the
symphony are starred):
This
is one of 5 Mozart
serenades that exist
in symphony versions.
In 3 of the 5
instances there are
sets of orchestral
parts at least
partially in Leopold
or Wolfgang Mozart's
hand, making clear
that they themselves
were involved in the
metamorphosis from
serenade to symphony.
In
the remaining 2
cases (including the
present one) we have
only copyists'
manuscripts, but there
seems every reason to
suspect that those may
stem from originals
coming from Mozart or
his circle.
The serenade from
which this symphony is
drawn was composed in
Salzburg in August
1774. The
stately introduction to
the first movement is a
feature found only in a
handful of Mozart's late
symphonies, other than
in those originating as
Serenades. (Haydn was
much fonder than Mozart
of this way of beginning
symphonies.) Perhaps
Mozart was slow to
appreciate the
possibilities of the
slow introduction, for
in 1777 in a letter to
his father he criticized
the Mannheim symphonists
for beginning "always in
the same manner, with an
introduction in slow
time and in unison". The
practice may be a
vestige of the French
baroque ouverture,
which customarily began
with a noble grave
section leading into a
longer one in a rapid
tempo. Whatever its
origins, the 7-bar
andante maestoso here
serves to set off the
allegro assai that
follows just as the cool
shine of a gold setting
shows off the brilliant
sparkle of a diamond.
The allegro assai itself
is a sonata-form
movement in common time
with both halves
repeated. It
contains a couple of
especially lovely
lyrical themes
contrasting with the
general bustle of the
movement, and has a
stormy,
contrapuntally-conceived
development section.
The andante in 2/4 that
follows is also in
sonata form. The violins
are muted, with the
cantabile melody of the
firsts accompanied by
the whirring
demisemiquaver figures
of the seconds. A solo
oboe makes its plaintive
appearance in each half
of the movement as well
as in the coda. This
pastoral tranquillity is
broken only by 3
fortissimo unison
outbursts in the
development section,
each serving to announce
the sudden arrival at a
new key.
The minuet sparkles with
pomp and circumstance
(though hardly of the
Elgarian variety) while
the trio, in which the
solo oboe reappears, is
as simple as the minuet
is pompous. The stately
and festive style of the
minuet combined
with its repeated use of
the rhythm give it the
character of a
polonaise.
The
prestissimo, in 2/4 and
again in sonata form
with both halves
repeated and a coda,
goes by so rapidly that
it can hardly be
believed that, counting
repeats, this finale is
some 538 bars long! The
marvellous gestures in
the exposition and
recapitulation, where
the orchestra lands on
and holds a
chromatically altered
note, are reminiscent of
some of the quirkier
moments in C. P. E.
Bach's symphonies, even
though the rest of the
movement would appear to
be under the more
southerly influence of
opera buffa.
Symphony in C major,
K.189k [K.173e
- K.200]
This work is
dated 17 November 1774
according to the sixth
edition of the Köchel
catalogue and according
to Landon, but as
someone attempted to
obliterate the date, it
is difficult to read.
The Köchel
catalogue admits that it
could be read as 12
November, and Einstein
deciphered the year as
1773. If the
date 17 November 1774 is
correct, then this
symphony brings to an
end the great burst of
symphonies composed by
Mozart for Salzburg in
the early 1770s. After
this he was not to write
another symphony proper
until the great "Paris"
symphony of 1778. (The 4
additional symphonies
found in our chronology
between this work and
the 'Paris' symphony are
reworkings of serenades
or of opera overtures.)
As this work is in a
format very similar to
those of the previous
few symphonies, we may
forego a
movement-by-movement
description in order to
take note of the fact
that several
commentators have heard
echoes of other music in
this piece. Wyzewa and
St. Foix hear J.
Haydn's influence in the
first movement. Abert
points to the similarity
between this movement
and the first movement
of the B-flat symphony,
K.182/173dA. Wyzewa and
St. Foix judge the
opening idea of the
andante to be in the
style of a German
popular song. They
consider the minuet
"like a first draft of
the minuet from the
"Jupiter" symphony".
(The present writer,
however, finds the
opening of the minuet
closer to that of the
minuet of Haydn's
"Farewell" symphony, no.
45.) ln the finale
Hocquard is reminded of
The Magic Flute,
finding here what he
calls “the Monostatos
motive".
This game of "find the
tune" and "locate the
influence" is difficult
to resist and, as
several major studies
have been devoted
largely to it, we should
try to understand what
lies behind it.
Composers of the period
in question were not so
interested in
originality per se as
were those of a later
period. Rather than
originality they sought
suitability. Or, to put
it another way, more
attention was paid to
craft and less to
inspiration. The
greatest works could be
based upon the most
common materials. We may
compare this to the
attitude of a fine
cabinet maker
commissioned to build a
table. His choice of
materials (wood) and
shape (rectangular) need
not be novel for the
table to be beautiful to
look at and
well-functioning to use,
provided he knows how to
pick the right wood and
what to do with that
wood.
Symphony in D major,
K.207a [K.196-121]
Mozart's comic opera La
finta giardiniera (“The
pretended
gardener-girl"),
K.196,was first
performed in Munich on
13 January
1775, that is, during
carnival. At some later
date he composed a 3/8
finale to turn the
2-movement overture into
a 3-movement symphony.
There is every reason to
hypothesize that the
finale was added in
Salzburg in 1775,
although the manuscript
is undated. Unlike the
previous 5 symphonies,
which were Germanic
concert-symphonies with
minuets, repeated
sections in all
movements, and lasting
around 25 minutes, this
symphony is an Italianate
overture-symphony
without minuet or
repeated sections and
lasting one quarter as
long. A brief plot
summary of La finta
giardiniera will
serve to suggest why the
first movement is so gay
and the second movement
so galant. (The finale,
a bright jig, picks up
where the opening
movement left off, as
far as its spirit is
concerned.)
David Ewen summarizes
the tangles of La
finta giardiniera's
love-intrigues thus:
Marchesa Violante has
been slighted by the man
she loves, Count
Belfiore. She and her
valet disguise
themselves as gardeners
and seek employment at
the palace of the Podestà,
ruler of Lagonero. The Podestà
finds Violante most
charming; and the Podestà's
maid is strongly
attracted to the valet.
Meanwhile, Count
Belfiore is about to
marry the Podestà's
niece who, in turn, is
being pursued by Ramiro.
Thus the various
love-plot threads become
hopelessly entangled.
Before the final
curtain, however,
Violante and the Count,
the valet and the maid,
and Ramiro and the
Podestà's
niece are joined
together in pairs by
mutual love. Only the
Podestà
himself remains without
a mate.
Mozart's symphony is of
course not programmatic.
But it was his practice
to write the overture of
an opera late in the
proceedings and
certainly long after he
had familiarized himself
with the story, and, as
Kirnberger tells, us, an
overture-symphony must
“have a character that
puts the listener in the
proper frame of mind for
the piece to follow".
Symphony in D major,
K.213A [K.204]
Like the symphony K .
203/189b discussed
above, this work is
drawn from an orchestral
serenade and comprises
(not counting the march)
movements 1, 5, 6 and 7
of the larger work. The
autograph manuscript of
the serenade reads "li 5
d'agosto 1775", and the
work is believed to have
been written to provide
a musical finale to
ceremonies marking the
end of the term at the
University of Salzburg.
The symphony version
appears to have been
better known than the
serenade itself and
survives in a number of
later-18th and
early-19th-century
manuscripts. One of
these, a set of
orchestral parts with
corrections in Mozart's
hand, was in his
possession at the time
of his death. In a
letter to his father of
4 January
1783 Mozart had asked to
be sent this symphony,
and the urgency of his
request makes it clear
that he was intending to
perform it in Vienna.
The allegro assai, an
energetic sonata-form
movement, begins with 3
tutti chords. Such
beginnings were believed
to have been the
invention of Lully, who
wanted to show off the
good ensemble of his
orchestra from the very
first chord. This was
the famous premier
coup d'archet.
After arriving in Paris
in 1778, Mozart made fun
of this notion in a
letter to his father:
"What a fuss the oxen
here make of this trick!
The devil take me if I
can see any difference!
They all begin together,
just as they do in other
places". The andante
which follows shows
clearly its serenade
origins in the lovely
concertante writing for
a flute, an oboe, a
bassoon, and a pair of
homs. The solo flute
also reappears in the
trio of the minuet. The
finale has an
idiosyncratic structure
alternating between an
andantino grazioso in
2/4 and an allegro in
3/8, with each appearing
4 times. This
interesting experiment
was repeated by Mozart
only two months later in
the finale of his violin
concerto, K.218, in
which an andante
grazioso in 2/4 and an
allegro ma non troppo in
6/8 alternate 5 times.
The finale of the violin
concerto is marked
"rondeau", and this
gives us a clue to the
interpretation of the
finale at hand: it is an
original sort of rondo
structure, handled with
aplomb and a touch of
wit.
©
1980 by Neal
Zaslaw
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