WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART 1756-1791
SYMPHONY NO 39 IN E FLAT K543
Menuetto (Allegretto) & Trio
The year 1788, when Mozart composed his last three symphonies, was one of the most
troubled of his life. It was true the years of servitude with the Archbishop of Salzburg
were behind him, and he had been appointed Imperial Chamber Composer -- but he was
chronically short of money and had to resort to borrowing from friends; for the sake
of economy he had had to give up his comfortable apartment near the Cathedral in
Vienna and move to cheaper lodgings. To crown his woes, his infant daughter Theresia
died in June 1788, at the age of six months.
In a letter to his friend and brother-freemason Michael Puchberg, asking for another
loan, Mozart made the best of things -- but it was not hard to read between the lines.
'Do come and see me,' he wrote. 'I am always at home. During the ten days since I
came to live here I have done more work than in two months in my former quarters,
and if such black thoughts did not come to me so often, thoughts which I banish with
tremendous effort, things would be even better, for my rooms are pleasant -- comfortable
-- and cheap.'
If the letter suggests a slight lightening of spirit, there were good reasons. The
date was the 27th June 1788: the day before, he had completed his 39th Symphony.
And in the 45 days that followed, two more masterpieces flowed, it seems effortlessly,
from his pen, the G minor symphony, No 40, and the 'Jupiter', No 41.
Seventeen months separate this incomparable final triptych of 1788 and Mozarts's
previous symphony, the 'Prague', No 38. Like the 'Prague', and the 'Linz' Symphony
of 1783 (No 36), but unlike Nos 40 and 41, the E-flat symphony begins with a slow
introduction, an expansive, almost heroic piece of musical architecture, which takes
us into a symphonic landscape wholly new for Mozart. But what promises, at the beginning
to be a stately, formal and sunlit musical scene is soon coloured by darker harmonies.
Not only in the beginning but in numerous other places in this noble work are there
episodes which prefigure the rich and complex inventions of Beethoven, as well as
reminders of the black thoughts Mozart was at pains to dismiss. The woodwind scoring
is unusual: only one flute, no oboes, two clarinets and two bassoons, and the latter
four instruments are given plenty of exposure, especially in the second movement,
the Andante con moto, and in the ländler-like trio in the third movement. With these
colours available to him he created a work essentially Mozartian in its grace, fluency
and wit.
After his last three, Mozart was to write no more symphonies. They are thought to
have been written for a subscription concert that summer which would no doubt have
helped his tottering finances. It is likely the concert never took place.
Programme Notes by Paul Vaughan ©
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