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 (LMV VII:D14) in Cliff Eisen's catalogue of Leopold Mozart's symphonies.
The symphony is scored for two oboes, two horns and strings. In contemporary orchestras, it was also usual to include bassoons and harpsichord if they were available in the orchestra to reinforce the bass line and act as the continuo. The horns are silent for the second movement. The duration is approximately 10 minutes.
The symphony consists of the following movements:
The form of the symphony is that of an Italian overture.
No autographs exist for Mozart's four D major symphonies written during his first trip to Italy (K. 81, K. 84, K. 95 and K. 97), and as such their authenticity is doubtful. A copy of K. 81, dated 25 April 1770, attributes the symphony to Wolfgang. [1] A letter from 25 April 1770 from Mozart to his sister states that Leopold had copied one of his (Mozart's) symphonies so that the autograph could remain in the house. [2] A catalogue of Breitkopf & Härtel lists Leopold as the composer, but the reason for this could be that Leopold, and not Wolfgang, presented the work to them. [2]
In his edition of the Köchel catalogue, Alfred Einstein rejects the authorship of Leopold, stating that it would be strange if Leopold composed one of the most "charming and intelligent" of the Italian symphonies of 1770. However, in the similar case of the "Lambach" symphonies, the "more modern" "New Lambach" symphony turned out to be Leopold's work. Also, Neal Zaslaw disagrees with this viewpoint ("charming and intelligent") of K. 81, instead calling it "bright, superficial and conventional". [1]
Bernhard Paumgartner assigned the symphony to Wolfgang, and stated (similarly to Wolfgang Gersthofer) that these four Italian symphonies are similar to each other, making it likely that they are all the work of the same composer, and that they are characteristic of Mozart's symphonies composed in Italy. Thus, they consider it very likely that Mozart was the author of all four symphonies. [3] [4]
The Alte Mozart-Ausgabe (published 1879–1882) gives the numbering sequence 1–41 for the 41 numbered symphonies. The unnumbered symphonies (some, including K. 81, published in supplements to the Alte-Mozart Ausgabe until 1910) are sometimes given numbers in the range 42 to 56, even though they were written earlier than Mozart's Symphony No. 41 (written in 1788). The symphony K. 81 is given the number 44 in this numbering scheme.
The Symphony No. 36 in C major, K. 425, also known as the Linz Symphony, was written by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart during a stopover in the Austrian town of Linz on his and his wife's way back home to Vienna from Salzburg in late 1783. The entire symphony was written in four days to accommodate the local count's announcement, upon hearing of the Mozarts' arrival in Linz, of a concert. The première in Linz took place on 4 November 1783. The composition was also premièred in Vienna on 1 April 1784. The autograph score of the "Linz Symphony" was not preserved, but a set of parts sold by Mozart to the Fürstenberg court at Donaueschingen in 1786 does survive.
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. 8 in D major,, by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is dated December 13, 1768. Mozart wrote the symphony in Vienna, when he was twelve years old, at a time when he and his family were already due to have returned home to Salzburg. In a letter to his friend in Salzburg, Lorenz Hagenauer, Leopold Mozart says of the delay that "we could not bring our affairs to a conclusion earlier, even though I endeavored strenuously to do so." The autograph of the Symphony No. 8 is today preserved in the Staatsbibliothek Preusischer Kulturbesitz in Berlin.
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.
Symphony No. 13 in F major, K. 112, by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, was written in Milan during his second journey to Italy in the autumn of 1771. The symphony is in four movements, the second of which is scored for strings alone. The third movement minuet may have been written earlier, and then incorporated into the symphony—the autograph manuscript shows the minuet copied in Leopold's hand. Nicholas Kenyon describes Symphony No. 13 as the last in "conventional mode"—thereafter "we are in the beginnings of a different world."
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 Symphony in F major "No. 42", K. 75, was written by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart probably around March to August 1771 in Salzburg.
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 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 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 to be written in a minor key. It is now considered certain that the symphony is not by Mozart.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart composed four litanies in his service as a church musician for the Salzburg Cathedral, two of which are settings of the Litaniae Lauretanae, the Litany of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The other two are settings of the Litaniae de venerabili altaris sacramento, venerating the Eucharist. Mozart composed the works for four soloists, choir, instruments, and continuo. The litanies appeared in Bärenreiter's Neue Mozart-Ausgabe (NMA) in 1969.