Symphony No.

40 (Mozart)

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart wrote his Symphony No. 40 in G minor, KV. 550,
in 1788.

The 40th Symphony is sometimes referred to as the “Great” G minor

symphony, to distinguish it from the “Little” G minor symphony, No. 25. The
two are the only minor-key symphonies Mozart wrote, with the possible
exception of an early and recently rediscovered A minor symphony known
today as the Odense Symphony.

Composition

The work was completed on 25 July 1788. The composition occupied an

exceptionally productive period of just a few weeks in 1788, during which time
he also completed the 39th and 41st symphonies (26 June and 10 August,
respectively).

The question of the Symphony's premiere

There is no completely solid documentary evidence that the premiere of the

40th Symphony took place in Mozart's lifetime. However, as Zaslaw (1983)
points out, the circumstantial evidence that it was performed is very strong.
On several occasions between the composition of the symphony and the
composer's death, symphony concerts were given featuring Mozart's music,
including concerts in which the program has survived, including a symphony,
unidentified by date or key. These include:

* Dresden, 14 April 1789, during Mozart's Berlin journey

* Leipzig, 12 May 1789, on the same trip
* Frankfurt, 15 October 1790
* Copies survive of a poster for a concert given by the Tonkünstlersocietät
(Society of Musicians) April 17, 1791 in the Burgtheater in Vienna, conducted
by Mozart's colleague Antonio Salieri. The first item on the program was billed
as "A Grand Symphony composed by Herr Mozart".

Most important is the fact that Mozart revised his symphony (the manuscript
of both versions still exists). As Zaslaw says, this "demonstrates that [the
symphony] was performed, for Mozart would hardly have gone to the trouble
of adding the clarinets and rewriting the flutes and oboes to accommodate
them, had he not had a specific performance in view." The orchestra for the
1791 Vienna concert included the clarinetist brothers Anton and Johann
Stadler; which, as Zaslaw points out, limits the possibilities to just the 39th
and 41st symphonies.

Zaslaw adds: "The version without clarinets must also have been performed,
for the reorchestrated version of two passages in the slow movement, which
exists in Mozart's hand, must have resulted from his having heard the work
and discovered an aspect needing improvement."
Concerning the concerts for which the Symphony was originally (1788)
intended, Otto Erich Deutsch suggests that Mozart was preparing to hold a
series of three "Concerts in the Casino", in a new casino in the Spiegelgasse
owned by Philipp Otto. Mozart even sent a pair of tickets for this series to his
friend Michael Puchberg. But it seems impossible to determine whether the
concert series was held, or was cancelled for lack of interest. Zaslaw
suggests that only the first of the three concerts was actually held.

The music

The symphony is scored (in its revised version) for flute, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets,
2 bassoons, 2 horns, and strings. Notably missing are trumpets and timpani.

The work is in four movements, in the usual arrangement (fast movement,

slow movement, minuet, fast movement) for a classical-style symphony:

1. Molto allegro
2. Andante
3. Menuetto – Trio
4. Allegro assai

Every movement but the third is in sonata form; the minuet and trio are in the
usual ternary form.

The first movement begins darkly, not with its first theme but with
accompaniment, played by the lower strings with divided violas. The
technique of beginning a work with an accompaniment figure was later used
by Mozart in his final piano concerto (KV. 595) and later became a favorite of
the Romantics (examples include the openings of Mendelssohn’s Violin
Concerto and Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Third Piano Concerto).

The first theme is well known:

The second movement is a lyrical work in 6/8 time, in E flat major, the
submediant major of the overall G minor key of the symphony.

The minuet begins with an angry, cross-accented hemiola rhythm; various

commentators have asserted that while the music is labeled "minuet," it would
hardly be suitable for dancing. The contrasting gentle trio section, in G major,
alternates the playing of the string section with that of the winds.

The fourth movement is written largely in eight-bar phrases, following the

general tendency toward rhythmic squareness in the finales of classical-era
symphonies. A remarkable modulating passage, which strongly destabilizes
the key, occurs at the beginning of the development section, in which every
tone but one in the chromatic scale is played. The single note left out is in fact
a g-natural (the tonic).

Reception

This work has elicited varying interpretations from critics. Robert Schumann
regarded it as possessing “Grecian lightness and grace”. Donald Francis
Tovey saw in it the character of opera buffa. Almost certainly, however, the
most common perception today is that the symphony is tragic in tone and
intensely emotional; for example, Charles Rosen (in The Classical Style) has
called the symphony "a work of passion, violence, and grief."

Although interpretations differ, the symphony is unquestionably one of

Mozart's most greatly admired works, and it is frequently performed and
recorded.

Influence

Ludwig van Beethoven knew the symphony well, copying out 29 measures
from the score in one of his sketchbooks.[9] It is thought that the opening
theme of the last movement may have inspired Beethoven in composing the
third movement of his Fifth Symphony. In addition, the opening movement of
Beethoven's Piano Sonata Op. 2, No.1 in F minor seems to echo some of the
rhythmic motives found in the final movement of the symphony (see Piano
Sonata No. 1).

Several works by Schubert, including one of his string quartets and,

especially, the minuet of his Fifth Symphony, show some influence from this
work, though Schubert's minuet lacks some of the rhythmic and contrapuntal
complexities of Mozart's.