Mozart: Symphony No. 40 in G minor, K. 550 (with Score)

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Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart:
Symphony No. 40 in G minor, K. 550 (with Score)
Composed: 1788
Orchestra: Danish National Chamber Orchestra
Conductor: Adam Fischer

00:00 1. Molto allegro (G minor)
07:16 2. Andante (E-flat major)
16:31 3. Menuetto. Allegretto (G minor) – Trio (G major)
20:27 4. Allegro assai (G minor)

Mozart composed his final three symphonies during the summer of 1788. His entries in the thematic catalog he maintained suggest that all were written during the space of about two months. Much critical discussion has been devoted to the reasons for their composition, for it appeared that Mozart had no specific occasion in mind for their performance. The romantic notion that he composed them without practical purpose is now widely disregarded as being out of character with Mozart's known compositional procedures, and the scholar H. C. Robbins Landon has recently advanced convincing arguments to suggest that they were in fact written for a series of concerts he gave in the fall or Advent season of 1788. Robbins Landon's argument is largely based on an undated letter written by Mozart to his principal benefactor, his fellow Freemason Michael Puchberg. In this letter he refers to his concerts which will begin "next week," concerts which scholars formerly believed never to have taken place. Evidence also supports the idea (advanced by Neal Zaslaw) that Mozart took the three symphonies on the tour he made to Germany the following year, which would further undermine the long-held notion that the composer never heard three of the greatest works in the symphonic literature performed.

One aspect of the symphonies upon which commentators reach universal agreement is their extraordinary diversity of character; each has unique qualities which together utterly explode the myth that the extreme agitation and pathos of the G minor Symphony reflected the abject circumstances in which Mozart found himself at this period. The begging letters addressed to Puchberg during these months are indeed pitiful documents that might be cited as evidence of Mozart's state of mind at the time he was composing the G minor symphony. But they will hardly do for the mellow warmth, strength and humor of E flat symphony or the elevated grandeur of the "Jupiter" Symphony. Neither should it be forgotten that the tragic qualities so often associated with the symphony today have not always been apparent to all. To Robert Schumann the symphony was a work of "Grecian lightness and grace," while for a later writer, Alfred Einstein, there are passages that "plunge to the abyss of the soul."

Such ambiguity is perhaps apt for one of the greatest works of a composer whose music so frequently defies adequate description. The symphony is cast in the usual four movements; the opening Molto allegro immediately announces something unusual by starting not with characteristic loud "call to attention," but with quietly spoken agitation. The uneasy passion of the main theme leads to conclusions that seem to protest rather than find any consolation. The movement's dominant feeling is urgency: upbeat after upbeat after upbeat occurs. Amid great instability and a questioning aura, we experience a peek into Don Giovanni's abyss. In the finale, the horns intrude with wild swatches of color. There is even an eerie twelve-note insertion after the double bar in the Allegro assai section.

There are two versions of the G minor symphony. The first is modestly scored for flute and pairs of oboes, horns, and strings, but at some point shortly after composition Mozart added parts for two clarinets, slightly altering the oboe parts to accommodate them. Such second thoughts surely also add credibility to the idea that Mozart led performances of the work -- he would hardly have bothered with such refinements if the symphony was not being used for practical purposes.

All Music Guide

1st version: without Clarinet (with Score)

Wikipedia article

International Music Score Library Project (IMSLP)
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First movement
0:00 Exposition P
0:33 Transition
0:48 medial caesura
0:50 S1
1:14 S2 (? or cadential extension?)
1:21 S3 (includes motivic head of P)
1:37 C
1:50 Exposition repeat
3:37 Development
4:40 Retransition (P overlaps at end)
4:47 Recapitulation (continuation of P)
5:12 transitional material (with some developmental extension)
5:33 transition continues (reestablishment of G minor)
5:48 medial caesura
5:50 S1 (with some developmental extension)
6:21 S2 (? or cadential extension)
6:27 S3 (includes motivic head of P)
6:44 C
6:56 Coda (second half is not repeated)

robhaskins
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1 часть
ГП - 0:05
ПП - 0:49
Начало разработки - 3:40
ПП в репризе - 5:50
2 часть
ГП - 7:16
ПП - 9:09
3 часть
основная тема - 16:30
трио - 18:00
4 часть
ГП - 20:28
ПП - 21:28
начало разработки - 24:08
ПП в репризе - 25:58

Дарья-сир
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The dynamic shifts, sforzati, and heavy emphasis on the bass really allude to Beethoven and early romanticism. Great recording!!

AP
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Whenever I'm listening to Mozart's late symphonies, I think, "THIS one is the greatest piece of music ever composed."
K.550 remains my favourite.

But just half an hour ago, as I was listening to K.543, I thought to myself, "I'd forgotten just how magnificent this symphony really is. Nothing could surpass this."
Half an hour from now, I'll be listening to K.551 and I'll be thinking that the Jupiter is the apex.

The fact of the matter is that Mozart absolutely perfected the symphony.
Subsequent symphonies have been longer, bigger, more convoluted, louder, more "difficult", more acclaimed, more celebrated, more famous, or whatever.
None has ever been more perfect.

Classical music reached its zenith with Mozart's late works. Only J.S. Bach compares in terms of musical genius but it was Mozart who took the symphony (and its close cousin, the piano concerto) to the point where it can plausibly claim to be the greatest intellectual and artistic achievement of Western civilisation.*
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.
.
.
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* Does anybody remember Western civilisation nowadays?

gerrycoogan
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One of the great works of the western world.

carlkulzer
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It's the legendary G minor Symphony by Mozart. Who doesn't even enjoy listening to this symphony?

IAmDylanPowers
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Mozart is marvellous, so simple yet so powerful and beautiful, not a note out of its place

Fuzznator
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The minuet is the perfection of imperfection❤

rl-
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0:05 1 частина головна партія
0:49 1 частина побічна партія
7:16 2 частина головна партія
9:09 2 частина побічна партія
16:30 3 частина основна тема
20:28 4 частина головна партія
21:28 4 частина побічна партія

Маргарита-гхж
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Con tante esecuzioni, proprio questa? Assolutamente improbabile!!!

bui
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18:00→第3楽章のトリオ
これこそこの曲の醍醐味なのだが。
これがアレンジされて街角で流れてたら鳥肌立つと思う。
第1楽章の第1主題があまりにも有名なため埋もれてるよね。

fukurayuza
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One of my favourites from Mozart. Also No. 41 and 42 are way up there. Lovely stuff. Thanks for the score as well comrade.😊

MpeshaBrosMD
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0:19
0:52
1:21
8:40
16:31
20:27
21:43
24:08
24:55

marmoladka
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20:27 WE
ARE
GOING
TO BE
STUCK
IN

wigwagstudios
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I like that part that sounded like megelovania 😍

Trombonemusic
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I would like to know why did you transform the 4/4 in 8/4, or better said, you are conducting in 2 and all of a sudden goes to 4, and then back to 2. why?, if mozart would have wanted it, he would have written 2 more bars. I am refering to the development after section A, in the last movement.

veronicamurua