Symphony No. 7 (Mozart)

1763 portrait of Mozart

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. ^[1] The symphony was reworked to become the overture to Mozart's opera, La finta semplice , K. 51, ^[2] 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 Berlin State Library. ^[2]

Movements and instrumentation

For the original (K. 45) version the instrumentation was: strings, 2 oboes, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, timpani, bassoon, continuo. For the symphonic overture (K. 46a) version the trumpets were replaced with flutes, an extra bassoon was added, and the timpani were excised. ^{[1] [3]}

1. Molto allegro, ⁴
   ₄
2. Andante,
3. Menuetto and Trio, ³
   ₄ (this movement was omitted from the "overture" version) ^[3]
4. Molto allegro, ²
   ₄

Performance history

According to analyst Neal Zaslaw, the first occasion on which the K. 45 version could have been heard was a concert given by Prince von Galitzin, the Russian ambassador, at his Vienna residence in late March, 1768. ^[1] The K. 46b version was heard at the premiere of La finta semplice, at Salzburg on 1 May 1769. ^[3]

References

1. Zaslaw, pp. 114–18
2. Giglberger 2005, p. XI.
3. Osborne, p. 40

Sources

• Giglberger, Veronika: (Preface), translated by J. Branford Robinson. In Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Die Sinfonien I, edited by ^{[ full citation needed ]} . Bärenreiter-Verlag, Kassel 2005 ISMN M-006-20466-3.
• Osborne, Charles: The Complete Operas of Mozart Gollancz, London 1992 ISBN   0-575-03823-3
• Zaslaw, Neal: Mozart's Symphonies: Context, Performance Practice, Reception Oxford University Press, Oxford 1991 ISBN   0-19-816286-3

External links

•  Sinfonie in D KV 45: Score and critical report (in German) in the Neue Mozart-Ausgabe
• Symphony No. 7 (W. A. Mozart) : Scores at the International Music Score Library Project