PROGRAM MOZART ’ S JUPITER SYMPHONY
Maximilian Franz
ABOUT THE PROGRAM
By James M . Keller
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Born January 27 , 1756 in Salzburg , Austria Died December 5 , 1791 in Vienna , Austria
SYMPHONY NO . 25 IN G MINOR [ 1773 ]
Anthony Burgess , in his literary fantasy On Mozart ( 1991 ), assigns these words to Mozart ’ s pupil Franz Xaver Süssmayr , who insists that his teacher ’ s symphonies demand serious attention beginning with No . 25 :
Now come the symphonies : 1 to 24 The non-Mozartian safely can ignore , But hardly these ….
His point is fair . There is no reason not to become acquainted with Mozart ’ s earlier symphonies , but as long as people steep themselves in those from number 25 on , they have reasonable hope of achieving lives that are happy and fulfilling .
In July 1773 , Mozart ’ s father hustled him off to Vienna hoping to find him a position . No appointment was forthcoming , but in the ten weeks they spent there the Mozarts heard much cutting-edge music , including symphonies by Franz Joseph Haydn that broke free from previous Italianate models . These experiences were soon reflected in Mozart ’ s music .
Symphony No . 25 , written that October , is a taut and turbulent piece filled with syncopated rhythms , angular themes , and wide intervals . It is one of only two full-fledged symphonies Mozart cast in the minor mode , the other being his extraordinary No . 40 , composed 15 years later and also in G minor . Because both are in the same key , No . 25 is sometimes referred to as the Little G-minor Symphony . It reflects Mozart ’ s fleeting fascination with the Sturm und Drang ( Storm and Stress ) movement , whose doctrine of explosive individualism was sweeping German-speaking lands at that moment . The high emotional pitch begins at the outset , where a prickly theme unrolls over a relentless rhythmic underpinning . The second movement provides some contrasting calm , but stark angularity returns with the third . The finale mirrors the opening movement almost like a bookend . Again , a rhythmic motif dominates the proceedings , and the repeated syncopations of the first movement even make a few return appearances .
Instrumentation Two oboes , two bassoons , four horns , and strings .
PIANO CONCERTO NO . 23 IN A MAJOR [ 1784-86 ]
When Mozart settled in Vienna , in 1781 , he hoped to make a name for himself as a composer and as a pianist . The obvious intersection of those disciplines came in the composition of piano concertos , works for piano and orchestra that he typically crafted to spotlight his own talents as a performer . It appears that he began his A-major Piano Concerto ( K . 488 ) in 1784 , in which year he wrote and premiered no fewer than six concertos , marking the high-water mark of his success as a performer . He set the piece aside for some reason and did not complete it until the winter of 1786 . During that two-year gestation he re-envisioned the concerto ’ s sound . His earlier sketches used an orchestra that included a pair of oboes ; but then he became smitten with the mellow timbre of clarinets , and they replaced the oboes in his final score .
This is a sublime entry among Mozart ’ s concertos . Compared to many of his other piano concertos , it seems not terribly concerned with spotlighting virtuosity . Its bearing is instead aristocratic and restrained , and it is fraught with emotional complexity that , in the second movement , travels even into the domain of despair . If the Countess in The Marriage of Figaro played the piano , this would be her concerto .
We hear this from the outset , in the bittersweet flavor of the opening theme , its deceptively guileless contours being far less emphatic than one might expect from the opening of a concerto . When the soloist enters there are no fireworks whatsoever — no brilliant introductory scales , no ornamental lead-in , no clever elision between phrases . Instead , the piano plays the theme the orchestra had presented at the beginning with the simplest of broken-chord accompaniments , not elaborating the tune until the first four measures have passed .
The first movement elevates us to a state of becalmed gentility . The second , in contrast , is one of the composer ’ s most tragic statements , and it concludes in an extraordinary coda . Against nervous pizzicatos from the stings , the piano utters only the barest skeleton of a melody . Musicians schooled in performance practice may elaborate this passage , filling in its wide intervals with scales or other ornamental passagework , yet playing the notes just as they stand in the score seems also reasonable here ; their shocking nakedness seems the very deconstruction of grief . Mozart has escorted us to the brink of despair but , as a Classical composer , he cannot in good conscience leave us there . The Allegro assai is not the most hilarious finale he ever wrote , but it does provide an optimistic conclusion to a concerto that has spent much of its time in considerably darker regions .
Instrumentation Flute , two clarinets , two bassoons , two horns , and strings .
SYMPHONY NO . 41 IN C MAJOR , “ JUPITER ” [ 1788 ]
Mozart ’ s produced his final three symphonies — Nos . 39 , 40 , and 41 — in quick succession in the summer of 1788 ; he began No . 39 in very early June and completed No . 41 on August 10 . Twelve movements in nine weeks means that he averaged five days and a few hours writing each movement . During that span , he was
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