Symphony No. 37 (Mozart)

The so-called Symphony No. 37 in G major, K. 444/425a, is an introduction by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to a symphony in G by Michael Haydn.

The complete symphony was for a long time believed to be a work by Mozart, but is now known to have actually been mostly written by Michael Haydn, being his Symphony No. 25 in G major, Perger 16, Sherman 25, MH 334. The true authorship was discovered by Lothar Perger in 1907.

The introduction was probably composed in late 1783 to be performed in the same concert in Linz, in which Mozart's Symphony No. 36 received its premiere. [Leopold, Silke (ed.): "Mozart-Handbuch." Kassel: Bärenreiter 2005, ISBN 3-7618-2021-6, p. 307]

Mozart probably copied out the score in order to learn from it, but he wrote a new "Adagio maestoso" introduction for it (few of Haydn's symphonies have slow introductions). Mozart's introduction in triple time ends with a fermata on a V⁷ chord, which leads into a tonic chord beginning Haydn's work.

Mozart did not copy the rest of the work verbatim: he removed a bassoon solo from the middle "Andante sostenuto" movement, and "appears to have reduced the colla parte writing in the winds throughout the work," according to Gary Smith. [ [http://www.mozartforum.com/Lore/article.php?id=534 "Haydn, Michael (1737-1806)" by Gary Smith at mozartforum.com] , accessed on October 6, 2007]

The numbers for Mozart's Symphonies Nos. 38 through 41 have not been adjusted.

Discography

Whether or not a recording includes Mozart's introduction depends in part on whether the disc is part of a collection of Mozart or Haydn symphonies.

This work is included in disc 19 of the box set of the complete Mozart Symphonies by the Academy of Ancient Music conducted by Christopher Hogwood, with the three movements and of course the introduction Mozart wrote. The same is true of the Naxos recording of the Northern Chamber Orchestra conducted by Nicholas Ward (that disc, which also has Mozart's Nos. 19 and 20, is available by itself). The recording for the Philips Complete Mozart Edition conducted by Neville Marriner includes only the introduction.

References

Sources

* Perger, Lothar: Thematisches Verzeichnis der Instrumentalwerke von Michael Haydn. Vienna: Artaria 1907

External links

The Classical Archives have Mozart's introduction is in a separate file in the [http://www.classicalarchives.com/mozart.html Mozart page] .

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* [http://www.mozartforum.com/Lore/article.php?id=085 Dennis Pajot: "K444 Symphony #37"] from mozartforum.com