Title : Symphony No. 40 in G minor, KV. 550
Composer : Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
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| Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart |
Done Composed in 25 July 1788
Symphony No. 40 is one of the two minor key symphony that Mozart composed. Symphony No. 40 in G minor is called “Great G minor Symphony”. And the other minor key key symphony is Symphony No. 25 that is all known as “Little G minor Symphony”
The 40th Symphony was completed on 25 July 1788. The composition occupied an exceptionally productive period of just a few weeks in 1788, during which time he also completed the 39th and 41st symphonies (26 June and 10 August, respectively). Nikolaus Harnoncourt argues that Mozart composed the three symphonies as a unified work, pointing, among other things, to the fact that the Symphony No. 40, as the middle work, has no introduction (unlike No. 39) and does not have a finale of the scale of No. 41’s.
Music
Instrumental (Revised Version)
- flute
- 2 oboes
- 2 clarinets
- 2 bassoons
- 2 horns
- trumpets
- timpani
- I & II Violins
- Violas
- Cellos
- Basses
Form
The work is in four movements, in the usual arrangement (fast movement, slow movement, minuet, fast movement) for a classical-style symphony.
I. Molto allegro
II. Andante
III. Menuetto. Allegretto
IV. Finale. Allegro assai
Molto Allegro
The first movement begins darkly, not with its first theme but with accompaniment, played by the lower strings with divided violas. The technique of beginning a work with an accompaniment figure was later used by Mozart in his last piano concerto (KV. 595) and later became a favourite of the Romantics (examples include the openings of Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto and Sergei Rachmaninoff's Third Piano Concerto). The first theme is as follows.
Andante
The second movement is a lyrical work in 6/8 time, in E flat major, the submediant major of the overall G minor key of the symphony.
Menuetto, Allegretto
The minuet begins with an angry, cross-accented hemiola rhythm and a pair of three-bar phrases; various commentators have asserted that while the music is labeled "minuet," it would hardly be suitable for dancing. The contrasting gentle trio section, in G major, alternates the playing of the string section with that of the winds.
Finale. Allegro assai
The fourth movement opens with a series of rapidly ascending notes outlining the tonic triad. The movement is written largely in eight-bar phrases, following the general tendency toward rhythmic squareness in the finales of classical-era symphonies. A remarkable modulating passage in which every tone in the chromatic scale but one is played, strongly destabilising the key, occurs at the beginning of the development section. The single note left out is in fact a G (the tonic).
Symphony No. 40 (Full Movement) Video:
Symphony No. 40 (Full Score) pdf file:
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