Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart completed his Symphony No. 41 in C major, K. 551, on 10 August 1788. It was the last symphony that he composed, and also the longest. The work is nicknamed the Jupiter Symphony. This name stems not from Mozart but rather was likely coined by the impresario Johann Peter Salomon in an early arrangement for piano. The symphony is scored for flute, two oboes, two bassoons, two horns in C, two trumpets in C, timpani in C and G, and strings. It is not known whether the 41st Symphony was ever performed in the composers lifetime. According to Otto Erich Deutsch, around this time Mozart was preparing to hold a series of 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. In an article about the Jupiter Symphony, Sir George Grove wrote that it is for the finale that Mozart has reserved all the resources of his science, and all the power, which no one seems to have possessed to the same degree with himself, of concealing that science, and making it the vehicle for music as pleasing as it is learned. Nowhere has he achieved more. Of the piece as a whole, he wrote that It is the greatest orchestral work of the world which preceded the French Revolution. The four-note theme is a common plainchant motif which can be traced back at least as far as Josquin des Prezs Missa Pange lingua from the sixteenth century. It was very popular with Mozart. It makes a brief appearance as early as his first symphony in 1764. Later, he used it in the Credo of an early Missa Brevis in F major, the first movement of his 33rd symphony and trio of the minuet of this symphony. Scholars are certain Mozart studied Michael Haydns Symphony No. 28 in C major, which also has a fugato in its finale. Charles Sherman speculates that Mozart also studied the younger Haydns Symphony No. 39 in C major because he often requested his father Leopold to send him the latest fugue that Haydn had written. The Michael Haydn No. 39, written only a few weeks before Mozarts, also has a fugato in the finale, the theme of which begins with two whole notes. Sherman has pointed out other similarities between the two almost perfectly contemporaneous works. The four-note motif is also the main theme of the contrapuntal finale of Michaels elder brother Josephs Symphony No. 13 in D major (1764). https://youtube/watch?v=zK5295yEQMQ
Posted on: Thu, 19 Jun 2014 21:30:03 +0000
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