32nd Symphony (Mozart)

The symphony in G major Köchelverzeichnis 318 was composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in Salzburg in 1779. According to the Old Mozart Edition, the symphony bears the number 32.

General

Mozart in 1777

Mozart wrote the symphony, which is dated April 26, 1779, shortly after his return from Paris in Salzburg. With its three merging movements, it is in the style of an Italian overture , the last movement being the reprise-like repetition of the first. The large line-up with four instead of the usual two horns as well as some tonal effects (e.g. crescendo , horn interjections rich in timbre, tremolo and short-term changes from forte and piano) should be emphasized .

It is unclear whether the symphony was originally conceived as the introduction to an (own) opera; possible candidates for this are Zaide Köchelverzeichnis (KV) 344 and Thamos, King in Egypt KV 345. Mozart used the work again in 1785 for a performance of Francesco Bianchi's La villanella rapita .

To the music

Instrumentation: two flutes , two oboes , two bassoons , four horns , two trumpets , two violins , two violas , cello , double bass . In addition, a harpsichord was probably used as a continuo - if available in the orchestra . This also applies to the timpani that are not listed in the autograph . The “extended orchestration” may have been created later (1782 or 1783) in Vienna.

Performance time: approx. 8 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 symphony KV 318 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. Since the individual “parts” of the symphony flow seamlessly into one another, one could speak of just one sentence instead of three. For the sake of clarity, the division into three parts is retained, but the bar numbering is continuous.

First movement: Allegro spiritoso

G major, 4/4 time, 109 bars

The movement begins as a march-like fanfare in forte unison , whose individual phrases (tone repetition with dotted rhythm as well as upbeat thirty-two- digit triplets with subsequent octave jump down) are separated by pauses. In contrast, the strings in the piano respond with a singing figure that also begins with the upbeat triplet (violas with staggered entry). Fanfare and answer are repeated. The section up to bar 11 can be viewed as the first topic in the broader sense.

The following transition section (bars 12–32) contains tremolo-led chord melodies, syncopation and the "upbeat motif" of the opening fanfare, which now occurs without an interval jump and (also) is spun as a sixteenth-note triplet movement. In addition, a small new motif (bars 20–23) is switched on, also with an upbeat and with repeated notes. From bar 24, the triplet opening motif appears as a pendulum movement, which is then repeated again in eighths. From bar 28 over a “drum bass” on A there is a change from D to A major, which ends with a chord to A major (the double dominant to G major); this chord has a dominant effect on the following entry of the second theme in D major.

Introduced by the full-time, signal-like unison D in the forte, the second theme follows with a periodic structure. With the exception of the bassoon, only strings are involved in the first movement, and the winds in the second movement. Characteristic is the stepped tone repeater in the voice-leading 1st violin and a semitone step in the bass; the character is "flirting, turning on the spot as it were".

In bar 49, a crescendo section begins from pianissimo to fortissimo. The melody line that unscrews above the drum bass is guided in the tremolo and contains not only the octave jump from the beginning of the sentence but also some chromaticism . The movement ends in a D major passage, in which the fanfare motif appears offset in bass and violas above a figure made of broken chords. The final group from bar 65 contains chord melodies. The exposition ends in bar 69 with three quarter beats in unison on D.

The implementation opened with a line-like portion on the piano, which is characterized by its change of staccato and legato eighth cycles and by fanfare-like objections of the fan (not identical to the Anfangsfanfare). In bar 85, a relatively long tremolo passage begins in the forte, in which the fanfare motif (from the beginning of the sentence) occurs offset between the 2nd violin and the violas, while the dominant tremolo of the 1st violin moves slightly downwards in bars. The drum bass again appears as the bass figure. After a G major seventh chord and two energetically repeated phrases, the development ends as a unison passage, at the end of which the upbeat thirty-second triplet is repeated five times in the forte from the beginning of the movement.

Instead of the expected recapitulation, however , the second movement follows - for the listener separated by a general pause with a fermata .

Second movement: Andante

G major, 3/8 time, time 110–207

Introduction de l ' Andante  :

First, the strings on the piano present the main theme with a gently swaying character, sometimes accompanied by the bassoons and flutes. It has a periodic structure consisting of an eight-bar front and a trailer, which in turn can be structured in two-bar units. In bar 126 a four-bar motif follows in the strings with the first violin leading the voice, while the second violin and violas accompany in legato sixteenth notes (bass and bassoon only play single notes at the beginning of the bar). This motif is repeated changed and then continues the legato movement with enrichment of chromatics.

The (again) fanfare-like passage for oboes and horns from bars 144 to 148, whose target harmony in D major slips briefly to B minor (bar 150), forms a contrasting interjection. The following dotted movement of the strings leads to the broken D major seventh chord performed in unison, with which the first part ends.

The opening theme is now repeated; From bar 63, however, there is a deviating continuation with accentuated leads, rambling sixteenth-note figures in legato and a phrase with dotted rhythm that can be thought of as derived from the motif in bar 126 ff. The theme is then repeated a second time, with the ending with vocal brass. This is immediately followed by the wind fanfare analogous to bars 144 ff., Which merges into the third movement over a short cadenza without a caesura.

Third movement: Primo tempo

G major, 4/4 time, time 208-274

The third movement can be understood as the recapitulation missing in the first movement. However, this does not begin with the usual fanfare, but with a pendulum-like, largely unison performed motif in characteristic forte-piano alternations. With the drum bass analogous to measure 28 and the subsequent second theme, the rest of the movement follows the Allegro almost literally, but the harmonies are now related to the tonic. Instead of the end of the exposition, Mozart set a coda from bar 256 , which takes up the first theme and the beginning of the transition, but inserts the second fanfare of the first movement in fortissimo. This means that the first and second themes appear as a mirror image of the exposition (i.e. the first sentence).

Individual references, comments

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Volker Scherliess : The symphonies. In: Silke Leopold (Ed.): Mozart-Handbuch. Bärenreiter-Verlag, Kassel 2005, ISBN 3-7618-2021-6 , pp. 277-278
2. ↑ Alfred Einstein: Mozart - His character, his work. Pan-Verlag, Zurich / Stuttgart 1953, 553 pp.
3. ^ Bernhard Paumgartner: Mozart. Atlantis-Verlag, Zurich and Freiburg i. Br. 1957, 557 pp.
4. ^ Neal Zaslaw: Mozart's Symphonies. Context, performance practice, reception. Clarendon Press, Oxford 1989, 617 pp.
5. ^ Franz Giegling , Alexander Weinmann , Gerd Sievers : Chronological-thematic directory of all of Wolfgang Amade Mozart's sound works. In addition to the information about the lost, started, transferred, dubious and superseded compositions by Dr. Ludwig Ritter von Köchel. Sixth edition. Breitkopf & Härtel-Verlag, Wiesbaden 1964, 1023 pp.
6. ^ Howard Chandler Robbins Landon: KV 318 in G major. Text contribution to: Mozart Symphonies Nos 17, 18, 19, 22, 32. Translation: Byword. The Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra, Ton Koopman; Erato Disques SA 1991.

Web links, notes

• Symphony in G major D KV 318 : Score and critical report in the New Mozart Edition
• W. Meves: Symphonies de WA Mozart. Collection Litolff No. 168. Henry Litolff's Verlag, Braunschweig without the year (edition from approx. 1890, including a version of the symphony KV 318 for piano 2 hands)

See also

• List of symphonies by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart