The Symphony in A minor "Odense", K. Anh. 220/16a, was formerly attributed to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. If the Odense Symphony had truly been Mozart's, it would be among only three of Mozart's symphonies (along with the G minor symphonies, No. 25 and No. 40) to be written in a minor key. It is now considered certain that the symphony is not by Mozart.
The symphony is scored for two oboes, two bassoons, two horns and strings. In contemporary orchestras, it was usual to not write in the parts for the bassoons and harpsichord, and they would simply double the cellos and double basses if they were available in the orchestra to reinforce the bass line and act as the continuo; however, the bassoons in this symphony do not simply double the cellos and double basses. The duration is approximately 13 minutes.
The symphony consists of the following movements:
The Leipzig publisher Breitkopf & Härtel tried to publish all of Mozart's works in 1799. They collected Mozart's works from his sister, his wife, musicians, copyists and other publishers. This compilation ultimately included a four-bar-long incipit for a symphony in the key of A minor, with its source reported to be Hamburg music dealer Johann Christoph Westphal. Whether Breitkopf & Härtel ever had a complete copy of the symphony seems disputed, but, besides the incipit, their catalog only noted that its manuscript could no longer be found. [1] In the Köchel catalogue published in the 1860s, Ludwig Ritter von Köchel listed the work as lost and placed it in the Anhang, assigning it the number K. Anh. 220. [2]
Alfred Einstein suggested in his 1937 edition of the Köchel catalogue that the symphony was composed in 1765 in London, based on the incipit and Mozart's first surviving symphony, K. 16. He gave the work the Köchel number 16a and stated that the early time of composition is obviously recognisable even from the few surviving bars. The sixth edition of the Köchel catalogue (1964) merely repeated this.
In 1982, the complete symphony was found as a copy (and, notably, not an autograph) in the handwriting of several copyists in the archives of the Municipal Symphony Orchestra in Odense, Denmark. [3] A note on the title page indicates that this symphony entered the possession of the Danish Collegium Musicum by 1793 at the latest, with the watermark in the paper of the orchestral parts showing the date 1779. None of the copyists in the Mozart family circle could have copied this symphony. In the 1780s, Westphal had some authentic Mozart symphonies, along with some works with "dubious" sources, such as K. 16a and K. Anh.C 11.08. K. 16a was probably among a set of works he sold to the Danish Collegium Musicum.
Wolfgang Plath published the symphony, now known as the "Odense" symphony, and put it in a scientific symposium for the experts. The symphony was recorded, among others, by the Academy of Ancient Music under the direction of Christopher Hogwood and was included in the Neue Mozart-Ausgabe under "Works of Doubtful Authenticity" in 2000 because the authenticity debate was then not yet complete, especially since an alternative to Mozart as the author could still not be named.
Neal Zaslaw stated that the symphony was probably composed later than 1765, and that the stylistic proximity to other Mozart symphonies of the 1760s and 1770s make accurate dating impossible without an authentic source and that K. 16a was often different stylistically from all other Mozart works. [2] Wolfgang Gersthofer ignored K. 16a in his review of Mozart's early symphonies because most experts did not consider it authentic Mozart. [4] Volker Scherliess stated that after long and intensive discussion, Mozart experts have agreed that the "Odense" symphony cannot be considered a work of Mozart in both tradition and style. [3] Scott Fruehwald concluded that the symphony was not by Mozart, based on stylistic analysis. [5]
On the back of the fourth page of the autograph of the Wind Divertimento in B♭ major, K. 186/159b, there are 16 crossed-out bars for strings, 2 oboes and 2 horns. Alfred Einstein, in his edition of the Köchel catalogue, thought this was an Andante in E♭ major belonging to a symphony written much earlier, perhaps to the (then undiscovered) K. 16a. The sixth edition of the Köchel catalogue largely repeated this, but reworded it to imply that the association remained uncertain.
Wolfgang Plath dated the divertimento to 1772, but the 16 bars to 1765 or 1766 based on the handwriting. He also corrected the key to G♯ minor and thought that Mozart later reused this piece of paper for the final version of the Minuet and Trio from the divertimento. Franz Giegling transcribed these bars and his transcription was printed in the critical report to the NMA (Neue Mozart-Ausgabe) volume of wind divertimenti (published in 1987), which he edited. [6] By then, the K. 16a symphony had been discovered and Einstein's connection had been disproved (since the Andante was in G♯ minor, any work it belonged to would probably have to be in B major). Neal Zaslaw printed a reconstruction of this "orchestral draft", stating that the draft contained internal inconsistencies and errors and that the reconstruction was based on the assumption that Mozart was hearing the piece in G♯ minor and B major, but could not write it correctly as he had not yet learned some necessary aspects of musical notation, such as double sharps. [7] [8]
The Köchel catalogue is a chronological catalogue of compositions by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, originally created by Ludwig Ritter von Köchel, in which the entries are abbreviated K. or KV. Its numbers reflect the ongoing task of compiling the chronology of Mozart's works, and provide a shorthand reference to the compositions.
The Adagio and Fugue in C minor, K. 546, is a composition by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart for strings. Mozart entered it into his own work catalogue on 26 June 1788 in Vienna as "A short Adagio for two violins, viola and bass, for a fugue which I wrote some time ago for two Pianos". The fugue in question was the two piano fugue in C minor, K. 426, written in December 1783.
The Symphony No. 4 in D major, K. 19, by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was composed in London during the Mozart family's Grand Tour of Europe in 1765, when Mozart was nine years old.
The Symphony No. 26 in E♭ major, K. 184/161a, was written by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and completed on March 30, 1773, one month after he returned from his third Italian tour.
Symphony No. 6 in F major, K. 43, was composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in 1767. According to Alfred Einstein in his 1937 revision of the Köchel catalogue, the symphony was probably begun in Vienna and completed in Olomouc, a Moravian city to which the Mozart family fled to escape a Viennese smallpox epidemic; see Mozart and smallpox.
Symphony No. 7 in D major, K. 45, by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, was completed in Vienna in January 1768 after the family's return from a visit to Olomouc and Brno in Moravia. The symphony is in four movements. Its first performance was probably at a private concert. The symphony was reworked to become the overture to Mozart's opera, La finta semplice, K. 51, composed and performed later that year, and the overture itself was subsequently adapted further to create a new symphony, known in the Köchel 1964 (K6) catalogue as K. 46a. The autograph of the score is preserved in the Staatsbibliothek Preusischer Kulturbesitz in Berlin.
Symphony No. 9 in C major, K. 73/75a, by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, has an uncertain provenance. The most likely date of its composition appears to be late 1769 or early 1770 during Mozart's first Italian journey, although some authorities have dated it "probably not before early summer 1772". It may have been started in Salzburg, before the first Italian journey began, and completed during the trip.
This list of Mozart symphonies of spurious or doubtful authenticity contains 39 symphonic works whose initial attribution to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart has subsequently been proved spurious, or is the subject of continuing doubt. The number of symphonies actually written by Mozart is imprecisely known; of the 41 formally numbered, three are established as by other composers and another, No. 11, is considered by scholars to be of uncertain authenticity. Outside the accepted sequence 1–41, however, there are around twenty other genuine Mozart symphonies, and beyond these, a larger number of problematic works which have not been authenticated as Mozart's. Some of these may be genuine; dubious works are often treated as authentic by the compilers of collected editions—eight are in the main body of the 1991 Neue Mozart-Ausgabe, and another two are included in the supplementary 2000 volume of works of doubtful authenticity. Some, however, have long been accepted as the works of other composers, who in many instances have been positively identified.
The Missa brevis in G major, K. 140, K3 Anh. 235d, K6 Anh. C 1.12, was probably composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart shortly after returning to Salzburg, in March 1773, from his third trip to Italy.
The Symphony in G major "Old Lambach", K. Anh. 221/45a, was probably written by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart during 1766 in The Hague and revised in 1767. Both versions – the original and the revision – have survived.
The Symphony in F major "No. 43", K. 76/42a, was probably written by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
The Symphony in B♭ major "No. 55", K. Anh. 214/45b, was probably written by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in early 1768 in Salzburg.
The Symphony in C major "No. 46", K. 96/111b, was probably written by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in 1771 in Milan.
The Symphony in D major "No. 45", K. 95/73n, was probably written by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in 1770 in Rome.
The Symphony in D major "No. 47", K. 97/73m, was probably written by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in 1770 in Rome.
The Symphony in F major "No. 56", K. 98/Anh.C 11.04, was once thought to have been written by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, but today is regarded as spurious. As of 2009, it is the only one of Mozart's symphonies published in the Alte Mozart-Ausgabe that has never been recorded. It is not included in the Neue Mozart-Ausgabe.
The Symphony in D major "No. 44", K. 81/73l, may have been written by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in 1770 in Rome, although it has sometimes also been attributed to his father Leopold Mozart. It is now also catalogued as Eisen D 14 in Cliff Eisen's catalogue of Leopold Mozart's symphonies.
The Symphony in B♭ major "No. 54", K. Anh. 216/74g/Anh.C 11.03, may have been written by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in 1771, in Salzburg.
The lost Symphony in C major, K. Anh. 222/19b, was probably written by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in early 1765 in London. It is one of the twelve symphonies that Ludwig von Köchel only knew by its incipit in the Breitkopf & Härtel manuscript catalogue, which listed it as one of six symphonies (Nos. 65–70) sourced from Luigi Gatti (1740–1817), Court Kapellmeister in Salzburg from around 1782:
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