Mozart Symphony No. 40

Mozart Symphony No. 40 Program Notes

Mozart Symphony No. 40 Program Notes. Mozart finished this “Great G Minor” (compared to the shorter, No. 25), symphony on July 25, 1788, in a burst of composition that also included No. 39 in E-flat, and No. 41, “Jupiter.” If that bears repeating: he composed these three symphonies on the same day.

He was planning and preparing for a series of concerts in Vienna later that year, and the summer’s down-time allowed for this. The family (Wolfgang, Cosima and young Carl) had just moved North-East of Vienna proper, to the Alsergrund district – to a place with a garden!

In August, a visitor from Copenhagen, the actor Joachim Preisler, described what he saw at the Mozarts’ home one Sunday afternoon: “He improvised… on a pianoforte with pedal… so wonderfully that it staggered belief! He interwove the most difficult passages with the loveliest themes. His wife cut quill pens for the copyist, a pupil composed, and a little boy of four walked about the garden singing recitatives. In short, everything surrounding this splendid man was musical!”

Born: January 27, 1756, Salzburg, Austria
Died: December 5, 1791, Vienna, Austria