Symphony No. 1 (Mozart)

Background#

The symphony was written on the Mozart family’s Grand Tour of Europe in London when they had to move to Chelsea during the summer of 1764, when Leopold caught a cold on the way home one night, with a severe throat infection. The symphony was first performed on 21 February 1765 at the Little Theatre, Haymarket, directed by Mozart himself, in a concert given by him and Nannerl.

Music#

The symphony is scored for two oboes, two horns in E, strings. The work is in three movements:

I. Molto allegro#

The first movement opens with an exuberant unison fanfare; it is then answered quietly by a gentler accompanied passage accompanied by the basso continuo. The contrast between loud and soft passages here provides the movement’s principal character. : \relative c \set Staff.midiInstrument = #“string ensemble 1” \key es \major \set Score.tempoHideNote = ##t \tempo 2 = 84 es2\f g \repeat unfold 8 bes8 g4 es r2 bes1\p as as g g In his book on the piano concertos, Cuthbert Girdlestone pointed out the similarity between the opening of this symphony and that of the Piano Concerto No. 22, K. 482, composed some twenty years later.

II. Andante#

: \header tagline = ##f \paper paper-width = 280\mm \layout indent = 0\cm ragged-last = ##t \context \Score \remove “Bar_number_engraver” \context \Voice \remove “Dynamic_engraver” global = \key c \minor \time 2/4 oboe = \relative c \global es2_\markup \musicglyph #“p” \p f f es d es4 oboeII = \relative c \global g2 as b c~ c4. b8 c4 corno = \relative c \time 2/4 \transposition es 2\fff r4 r8 g, \break c2 violin = \relative c \global \repeat unfold 2 \tuplet 3/2 16-.\p q-. q-. \omit TupletNumber \repeat unfold 2 \tuplet 3/2 q-. q-. q-. \repeat unfold 4 \tuplet 3/2 16-. q-. q-. \repeat unfold 4 \tuplet 3/2 16-. q-. q-. \repeat unfold 4 \tuplet 3/2 16-. q-. q-. \repeat unfold 3 \tuplet 3/2 16-. q-. q-. \tuplet 3/2 q q \tuplet 3/2 q \tuplet 3/2 q q cello = \relative c \global r8 c16-!\f d-! es-! f-! g8-! r f16-! g-! as-! g-! f8-! r8 g,16-! a-! b-! c-! d8-! r c16-! d-! es-! d-! c8-! r8 f16 (fis g8) g,-! \omit TupletNumber \repeat unfold 2 \tuplet 3/2 c16-! c-! c-! c8 r r es16-! f-! g-! f-! es8-! r8 as16-! bes-! c-! bes-! as8-! r8 bes,16-! c-! d-! c-! bes8-! r8 es16-! f-! g-! f-! es8-! oboePart = \new Staff \with instrumentName = “Ob.” midiInstrument = “oboe” > celloPart = \new Staff \with instrumentName = “Vc.” shortInstrumentName = “Vc.” midiInstrument = “cello” \clef bass \cello \score \new StaffGroup > \layout \midi \tempo 4 = 45 In the second movement, bars 7ff, Mozart uses the four note motif C–D–F–E which appeared in several of his later works, including his symphonies 33 and 41 “Jupiter”, specifically the fourth movement of the latter. The horns play this theme above a slow, heavy bass line which likely reflects his concern for his father’s severe illness. Marc Rochester suggests that shivering strings remind listeners of the cold English winter weather under which the symphony was composed.

III. Presto#

The exuberant brief closing movement of the symphony, dominated by the horns and violins, according to Rochester, reflects the young Mozart’s inability to stay serious for long. The strings play a brief unison figure exploring chromaticism, which audiences at the time found questionable. : \relative c’ \set Staff.midiInstrument = #“string ensemble 1” \set Score.tempoHideNote = ##t \key es \major \time 3/8 \tempo 4 = 132 es8\f g bes bes, bes16 c d bes es8 g bes bes,4. aes4. g f8 aes16 g f ees d ees f d bes8

External links#

• “Work details, sound file”, Köchel-Verzeichnis, International Mozarteum Foundation
• , Folkwang Kammerorchester Essen, Johannes Klumpp conducting