15th Symphony (Mozart)
The Symphony in G major Köchelverzeichnis 124 was composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in Salzburg in 1772. According to the Old Mozart Edition, the symphony has the number 15.
General
The autograph of the symphony is inscribed by Mozart with "Sinfonia del Sigr: Cavaliere Wolfgango amadeo Mozart Salisburgo 21 Febrario 1772". Mozart had received the title of cavalier from the papal "Order of the Golden Spur", but only rarely used it. The specific reason for the composition is not known.
To the music
Instrumentation: two oboes , two horns in G, two violins , viola , cello , double bass . In contemporary orchestras it was also customary, even without separate listing bassoon and harpsichord (if available in the orchestra) to reinforce the bass part or as a basso use -instrument.
Performance time : approx. 16 minutes.
With the terms of the sonata form used here, it should be noted that this scheme was designed in the first half of the 19th century (see there) and can therefore only be transferred to the Köchelverzeichnis symphony (KV) 124 with restrictions. - The description and structure of the sentences given here is to be understood as a suggestion. Depending on the point of view, other delimitations and interpretations are also possible.
First movement: Allegro
G major, 3/4 time, 111 bars
The movement opens as a signal-like “triad call motif” in unison and a strong, tremolo- underlaid melody of the leading violin with dotted rhythm and a characteristic upward interval jump. This first theme (bars 1–12) ends on the dominant D major and only goes over to the second theme, interrupted by a short pause.
The second theme (bar 13 ff., D major, piano) is initially characterized by the pendulum-like pizzicato dialogue between horns / viola / bass on the one hand and oboes / violins on the other. In bar 17 the character changes with a vocal legato figure for the violins, accompanied by the sustained D of the horns. The theme closes with a short tremolo passage by the entire orchestra in the Forte. The final group (bars 25 ff.), On the other hand, begins in contrast to the piano with a trill figure for the violins. After the unexpected fermata on the A major seventh chord (bar 29), Mozart finishes the exposition with virtuoso sixteenth notes on the violins.
The execution (cycle 37 ff.) Begins with a new eight-bar, predominant theme in D major, which changes as Fortspinnung to Tonikaparallelen e Minor. In E minor, the head of the first theme is taken up and then sequenced downwards in the bass over tremolo and sustained chords . With a dance motif (bars 65 ff.) Mozart leads back to the recapitulation (bars 73 ff.), Which is structured like the exposition. However, at the end of the sentence the head of the first topic appears again. The exposition, development and recapitulation are repeated.
Second movement: Andante
C major, 2/4 time, 56 bars
The set is based on three themes / motifs that are presented one after the other in the exposition. In the first theme (bars 1–10) only the strings play an upbeat, vocal melody with a somewhat melancholy character. The 1st violin is the leading part, while the 2nd violin accompanies in flowing sixteenth-note movement, viola and bass with grounding quarters. The four-bar melody is repeated in chromatic coloring in the follow-up to the theme . In the second theme (bars 11-20) the winds play a two-bar motif in dialogue with the violins. In the final group (bars 20–24) the violins, with their two-bar, falling motif, lead the voice.
The middle section (bars 25–32) continues from the first theme and is designed more like a transition than an implementation. The recapitulation (bars 33 ff.) Corresponds structurally to the exposition. Both main parts of the sentence are repeated.
Volker Scherliess writes about the treatment of the wind instruments in the Andante and the Minuet that v. a. here "the older" pedal practice ", in which the harmonies are strengthened, and the individual" appearance "are opposite, in which oboes and horns - partly with independent motifs, partly with confirming interjections - stand out as soloists." Also Arnold Werner -Jensen thinks that in the “slightly chromatically colored Andante” the “wind colors begin to shine” .
Third movement: Menuetto
G major, 3/4 time, 28 + 24 bars
The main melody of the minuet with a courtly character is characterized by the alternation of forte (whole orchestra) and echo-like (string) piano as well as the extensive voice leading in unison. The beginning reminds of the beginning of the Allegro (which is also in 3/4 time) with its melody, the unison and the quarter breaks. The eight-bar theme is expanded to ten bars in the first part by an “unexpected two-bar stretch” (bars 7/8).
The chamber music trio (strings only) in D major is kept piano throughout. The voice-leading 1st violin plays a vocal melody with a characteristic fourth upwards in full bar notes (at the beginning of the second part also as a fifth).
Fourth movement: Presto
G major, 2/4 time, 141 bars
The movement is structured as a rondo with the main theme ( refrain ) and three couplets .
The chorus is structured periodically with ten bars of a front and a trailer. With its three forte chord strokes, the beginning is similar to the final movement from the symphony KV 114 written shortly before . After the three chord hits on G, the violins move upwards in piano pizzicato and a tremolo passage downwards.
Couplet 1 (bars 21–44) initially changes with a motif in countermovement from violins and viola / bass via E minor, G major and A major to the dominant D major, in which a section with continuous eighth notes in the bass then changes Violin tremolo sounds. At the end, only the two violins play piano an excited, detached eighth-note figure with two tone repetitions.
Couplet 2 (bars 65–83) is characterized by the trill phrase in the dialogue 1st violin - 2nd violin / viola, while in Couplet 3 (bars 105–120) there is an alternation of syncope and cadence-like chord progression (tonic - subdominant - dominant) . Mozart ends the movement as a coda (bars 121 ff.) With eight-bar chord melodies exclusively in G major, which was possibly intended as a musical joke.
Individual references, comments
- ↑ a b c Volker Scherliess : The symphonies. In: Silke Leopold (Ed.): Mozart-Handbuch. Bärenreiter-Verlag, Kassel 2005, ISBN 3-7618-2021-6 , pp. 281-282
- ↑ Neal Zaslaw (1989) suspects that the symphony could have been written for an upcoming concert or for the Archbishop of Salzburg, who played the violin himself.
- ↑ a b Neal Zaslaw: Mozart's Symphonies. Context, performance practice, reception. Clarendon Press, Oxford 1989.
- ↑ Depending on your point of view, you could only look at the first four bars as a theme.
- ↑ a b The repetitions of the parts of the sentence are not kept in some recordings.
- ↑ z. B. in the bottom group
- ↑ z. . Bar 11 ff.
- ^ A b Arnold Werner-Jensen: Reclam's music guide. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Volume 1: Instrumental Music. Philipp Reclam jun., Stuttgart 1989, p. 171.
Web links, notes
- 15th Symphony (Mozart) : Score and critical report in the New Mozart Edition
- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Sinfonia in sol, K. 124. PR 815, Ricordi-Verlag, Milan 1955 (pocket score).