Mozart - Symphony No. 34 in C Major, K. 338
Symphony No. 34 in C Major, K. 338, was written by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in 1780, and completed on August 29. The work is scored for 2 oboes, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, timpani and strings.
Although most symphonies have four movements, this symphony has only three, which was still common in the early classical period:
1. Allegro vivace, 4/4
2. Andante di molto (più tosto Allegretto), 2/4 in F major
3. Finale: Allegro vivace, 6/8.
The symphony features the fanfares and flourishes typical of the "festive symphony" or "trumpet symphony", which is characteristic of Austrian symphonic writing in C major. This is the first of Mozart's C-major symphonies to exhibit this character, but the style would be revisited in his subsequent two works in this key, the 36th and 41st symphonies.
The first movement is written in sonata form but also contains many styles and formal aspects of an Italian overture. There is no expositional repeat. The expositional coda contains an overture-like crescendo which is not included in the recapitulation. The development is based entirely on new material. The recapitulation on the exposition's first theme is abbreviated and interrupted by a brief development of that theme.
Finally, the movement's coda contains nearly all of this first theme creating the appearance of a reverse-recapitulation common in Italian overtures. The second movement in F major is scored for strings sotto voce with divided violas and a single bassoon doubling the cellos and bass.
Alfred Einstein advanced a theory in the third edition of the Köchel catalogue that the Minuet K. 409 was written at a later date by the composer for this work. However, there is no proof in the sources to support his thesis. Also, K. 409 calls for two flutes in its orchestration which does not match the rest of the symphony. The finale is in sonata form and features energetic tarantella or saltarello rhythms.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 1756 -- 5 December 1791), baptised as Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era.
Mozart showed prodigious ability from his earliest childhood. Already competent on keyboard and violin, he composed from the age of five and performed before European royalty.
At 17, he was engaged as a court musician in Salzburg, but grew restless and travelled in search of a better position, always composing abundantly.
While visiting Vienna in 1781, he was dismissed from his Salzburg position. He chose to stay in the capital, where he achieved fame but little financial security. During his final years in Vienna, he composed many of his best-known symphonies, concertos, and operas, and portions of the Requiem, which was largely unfinished at the time of his death. The circumstances of his early death have been much mythologized. He was survived by his wife Constanze and two sons.
He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, operatic, and choral music. He is among the most enduringly popular of classical composers, and his influence on subsequent Western art music is profound; Beethoven composed his own early works in the shadow of Mozart, and Joseph Haydn wrote that "posterity will not see such a talent again in 100 years."