Post by erik on Dec 18, 2022 0:11:37 GMT -5
The so-called "Little G Minor" symphony of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is in this week's Classical Works Spotlight.
Mozart: SYMPHONY NO. 25 IN G MINOR, K. 183 (LITTLE G MINOR)
Of the forty-one symphonies that Mozart was known to have composed, only two of them are in a minor key; and both are in G Minor. The “great” G Minor symphony, No. 40, was composed during the fevered six weeks in the summer of 1788 when he also composed his 39th (in E Flat Major) and 41st (in C Major, the “Jupiter”). The earlier one is the 25th, which he composed in October 1773 when he was still living in Salzburg, but it shows an extreme amount of maturity for someone who had yet to even turn eighteen years old. While Mozart found his creativity limited by his hometown’s orchestra, he was nevertheless able to create this symphony with relatively small forces (two oboes; two bassoons; four horns; full string orchestra). Nevertheless, this symphony fell into almost unconscionable obscurity until 1984, when the symphonies famous opening measures were used to open the Milos Forman-directed adaptation of Peter Shaffer’s fictional play based on Mozart’s life, Amadeus. With Tom Hulce in the role of the famous Austrian wunderkind composer, the film won several academy awards, including for F. Murray Abraham in his portrayal of Mozart’s Vienna court rival Antonio Salieri. Both the film and the play took a prominent liberty in having fingered Salieri as the one who, due to a supposedly extreme and insane jealousy, poisoned Mozart, and had even commissioned Mozart to write the Requiem (it was in actuality an obscure count who would commission composers and then pass of those works as being his own). Despite these critiques, Amadeus could be given much of the credit for having lifted the 25th Symphony into the permanent symphonic repertoire for keeps, and even having it get nicknamed the “Little G Minor”.
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra/CLAUDIO ABBADO (Sony)
Included:
SYMPHONY NO. 31 IN D MAJOR, K. 297 (PARIS)
MASONIC FUNERAL MUSIC, K. 477
SYMPHONY IN D MAJOR (THE POSTHORN)
Mozart: SYMPHONY NO. 25 IN G MINOR, K. 183 (LITTLE G MINOR)
Of the forty-one symphonies that Mozart was known to have composed, only two of them are in a minor key; and both are in G Minor. The “great” G Minor symphony, No. 40, was composed during the fevered six weeks in the summer of 1788 when he also composed his 39th (in E Flat Major) and 41st (in C Major, the “Jupiter”). The earlier one is the 25th, which he composed in October 1773 when he was still living in Salzburg, but it shows an extreme amount of maturity for someone who had yet to even turn eighteen years old. While Mozart found his creativity limited by his hometown’s orchestra, he was nevertheless able to create this symphony with relatively small forces (two oboes; two bassoons; four horns; full string orchestra). Nevertheless, this symphony fell into almost unconscionable obscurity until 1984, when the symphonies famous opening measures were used to open the Milos Forman-directed adaptation of Peter Shaffer’s fictional play based on Mozart’s life, Amadeus. With Tom Hulce in the role of the famous Austrian wunderkind composer, the film won several academy awards, including for F. Murray Abraham in his portrayal of Mozart’s Vienna court rival Antonio Salieri. Both the film and the play took a prominent liberty in having fingered Salieri as the one who, due to a supposedly extreme and insane jealousy, poisoned Mozart, and had even commissioned Mozart to write the Requiem (it was in actuality an obscure count who would commission composers and then pass of those works as being his own). Despite these critiques, Amadeus could be given much of the credit for having lifted the 25th Symphony into the permanent symphonic repertoire for keeps, and even having it get nicknamed the “Little G Minor”.
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra/CLAUDIO ABBADO (Sony)
Included:
SYMPHONY NO. 31 IN D MAJOR, K. 297 (PARIS)
MASONIC FUNERAL MUSIC, K. 477
SYMPHONY IN D MAJOR (THE POSTHORN)