Mozart

and the Symphony

Dr. Lara Housez
School of the Arts
McMaster University

Content

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Mozarts travels
Sonata form
Drama of sonata form
Symphony No. 40 in G Minor

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

(1756-1791)
Austrian composer
Born into a musical
family
Wunderkind: by age
12, he had written 3
operas, 6
symphonies, and 100
other works
Toured Europe to
meet composers and
perform

 1781: With no steady employment, Mozart

went to Vienna, Austria in the hopes of
supporting himself by performing on the
piano, selling his compositions, and giving
piano lessons
1782-1790: Successful years writing
operas, concertos, and symphonies, but
always in debt
1791: Mozart becomes morbidly depressed,
composes the Requiem Mass, dies, and is
buried in an unmarked paupers grave in
Vienna

A musical family: Mozart at the keyboard with

sister, Nannerl, and Father, Leopold, looks on

Maria Anna
(Nannerl)
Mozart (1751
1829)
Also a child
prodigy on
keyboard
Eventually
stopped traveling
with father and
brother

Mozarts Travels

Sonata Form
= A musical structure that was new in the
Classical era. It allows for the presentation,
development, and resolution of multiple themes
within a single movement, often the Yirst mvts.
of symphonies, sonatas, and string quartets
Sonata form provides a versatile framework
for creating drama without words
A.K.A.: 1st movement form or sonata allegro
form
Expansion of rounded binary form

a(x2)

Conventions of sonata form:

In the exposition, there is always a modulation
(change in key) from a primary to a secondary
key area
The 1st binary section is always repeated; the
2nd one may or many not be repeated

More conventions of sonata form

There is always a departure from these harmonic
areas in the development
The development moves through various keys and
rarely settles on any one of them for very long
There is always a return to the primary key area in
the recapitulation
The sequence of themes in the recapitulation usually
follows the sequence of themes as presented in the
exposition
The recapitulation stays in the tonic throughout
Sonata form mvts. often end with a brief coda.
Coda is the Italian word for tail, and it brings the
mvt. to a close after the recapitulation

Drama of sonata form

Sonata Form

Musical Drama

The Wizard of Oz

Exposition

The themes of the

movement are
exposed


Theme(s) are
presented in tonic,
home key

In the opening black-

and-white section, we
meet all the major
characters of the story

Dorothy at home on
her farm; we meet the
farmhands and the
dreaded Miss Gulch

Tonic key

Modulates to
Secondary key

Modulates: New

theme or themes
presented in key area
that is not tonic, away
from home key

Runs away from

home: Dorothy meets
a new character,
Professor Marvel

Drama of sonata form

Sonata Form

Musical Drama

Development

Film turns to colour;

Harmonically
original characters are
unstable. Themes
transformed: Miss Gulch
transformed/
becomes Wicked Witch of
changes so they are
West; farmhands are now
different from how
Scarecrow, Tin Woodsman,
they were Yirst heard,
and Lion. Professor Marvel
yet are recognizable.
becomes Wizard of Oz

Return to the home Dorothy returns to Kansas,
Yilm returns to black and
key of the tonic. All
white. Characters of
themes heard in
opening scene (inc. Prof.
exposition are now
Marvel) reappear in
presented in tonic
original form and visit at
key
her bedside (i.e. home)

Recapitulation

The Wizard of Oz

Drama of sonata form

The Wizard of Oz,
closing scene
(1939, MGM),
Dorothy returns
home to Kansas

Symphony No. 40 in G Minor

One of 3 symphonies Mozart wrote in Vienna
in 1788
Filled with dramatic contrasts
The themes are like characters, creating a
drama without words: memorable
personalities, conYlict, and resolution
The 1st principal theme has a quietly agitated
accompaniment, with the melody going downward
by step (minor)
The 2nd uses longer notes and is much calmer
(major)
Both use antecedent-consequent phrases

Symphony No. 40 in G Minor

First principal theme (sighing theme): dramatic
melody with restless, agitated accompaniment, minor

Second principal theme (calm theme): contrasts Yirst,

longer notes, softer accompaniment, calmer mood, major

For Wednesday
Read: pp. 207-214
Listen: CD 2, track 13 (Mozart, Piano
Concerto in A Major, K. 488, 1st mvt.)