Symphony No. 12 (Mozart)

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1770 Verona portrait of Mozart Portrait of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart at the age of 13 in Verona, 1770.jpg
1770 Verona portrait of Mozart

Symphony No. 12 in G major, K. 110/75b, by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, was composed in Salzburg in the summer of 1771. The symphony was apparently prepared in anticipation of Mozart's second Italian journey, which was to take place between August and December 1771. [1] The symphony is in four movements, the opening allegro being the longest movement that Mozart had written to that date. It is the first of a group of works "painted on a larger canvas and achieving a greater individuality than his earlier exuberant pieces". [2]

Contents

Instrumentation and movements

The instrumentation is: strings, 2 oboes, 2 horns in G, 2 flutes, 2 bassoons, continuo. [1]

Symphony No. 12 (Mozart)
  1. Allegro, 3
    4
  2. Andante, 2
    2     in C major
  3. Menuetto and Trio, 3
    4
  4. Allegro, 2
    4

The minuet features a canon between high and low strings where the voices follow each other after a single bar.Joseph Haydn had used a similar device in the minuet of his 1764 Symphony No. 23, also in G major.

Performance details

There are no confirmed details as to first performance. It is possible that this symphony was first played at a concert in Milan, on 22 or 23 November 1771. This concert may also have seen the premiere of Mozart's Symphony No. 13.

References

  1. 1 2 Zaslaw, Neal (1991). Mozart's Symphonies: Context, Performance Practice, Reception. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 209–212. ISBN   0-19-816286-3.
  2. ↑ Kenyon, Nicholas (2006). The Pegasus Pocket Guide to Mozart. New York: Pegasus Books. p. 156. ISBN   1-933648-23-6.
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