Grove's dictionary of music and musicians

770 SYMPHONY
Mozart's work, therefore, comes between Haydn's
lighter period and his greatest achievetaents ;
and his symphonies are in some respects prior
to Haydn's, and certainly had an etfeot upon his
later works of all kinds.
According to Kochel, Mozart wrote altogether
forty-nine symphonies. The first, in El>, was
written in London in 1764, when he was eight
years old, and only five years after Haydn
wrote his first. It was on the same pattern as
those which have been fnlly described above,
being in three movements and scored for the
usnal set of instruments—namely, two violins,
viola, bass, two oboes, and two horns. Three
more followed in close succession, in one of
which clarinets are introduced instead of oboes,
and a bassoon is added to the usual group of
eight instruments. In these works striking
originality of purpose or style is hardly to be
looked for, and it was not for some time that
Mozart's powers in instrumental music reached
a pitch of development which is historically
important ; but it is nevertheless astonishing to
see how early he developed a free and even rich
style in managing his orchestral resources.
With regard to the character of these and all
but a few of the rest it is necessary to keep in
mind that a symphony at that time was a very
much less important matter than it became
fifty years later. The manner in which symphonies
were poured out, in sets of six and
otherwise, by numerous composers during
the latter half of the 18th century, puts
utterly out of the question the loftiness of aim
and purpose which has become a necessity since
the early years of the 19th century. They
were all rather slight works on familiar lines,
with which for the time being composers and
public were alike quite content ; and neither
Haydn nor Mozart in their early specimens
seem to have specially exerted themselves. The
general sui-vey of Mozart's symphonies presents
a certain number of facts which are worth noting
for their bearing upon the history of this form
of art. The second symphony he wrote had a
minuet and trio ; but it is hardly possible that
he can have regarded this as an important point,
since he afterwards wrote seventeen others
without them ; and these spread over the whole
period o&his activity, for even in that which he
wrote at Prague in 1786, and which is last but
three in the whole series, the minuet and trio
are absent. Besides this fact, which at once
connects them with the examples by other composers
previously discussed, there is the yet
more noticeable one that more than twenty of
the series are written for the same peculiar
little group of instruments, viz. the four strings,
a pair of oboes or flutes, and a pair of horns.
Although he used clarinets so early as his third
symphony, he never employed them again till
his thirty-ninth, which was written for Paris,
and is almost more fully scored than any. In
the whole forty-nine, in fact, he only used
clarinets five times, and in one of these eases
(viz. the well-known G minor) they were added
after he had finished the score. Even bassoons
are not common ;
the most frequent addition to
the little nucleus of oboes or flutes and horns
being trumpets and drums. The two which are
most fully scored are the Parisian, in D, just
alluded to, which was written in 1778, and
that in Et>, which was written in Vienna in
1788, and stands first in the famous triad.
These facts explain to a certain extent how it
was possible to write such an extraordinary
number in so short a space of time. Mozart's
most continuously prolific period in this branch
of art seems to have been when he had returned
to Salzburg in 1771 ; for between July in that
year and the beginning of 1773, it appears to
be proved that he producecT no fewer than
fourteen. But this feat is fairly surpassed in
another sense by the production of the last three
in three successive months, June, July, and
August 1788 ; since the musical calibre of these
is so immensely superior to that of the earlier
ones.
One detail of comparison between Mozart's
ways and Haydn's is curious. Haydn began
to use introductory adagios very early, and
used them so often that they became quite a
characteristic feature in his plan. Mozart, on
the other hand, did not use one until his 44th
Symphony, written in 1783. What was the
origin of Haydn's employment of them is
uncertain. The causes that have been Suggested
are not altogether satisfactory. In the
ortliodox form of symphony, as written by the
numerous composers of his early days, the opening
adagio is not found. He may possibly have
observed that it was a useful factor in a certain
class of overtures, and then have used it as an
experiment in symphonies, and finding it answer,
may have adopted the expedient generally in
succeeding works of the kind. It seems likely
that Mozart adopted it from Haydn, as its first
appearance (in the symphony which is believed
to have been composed at Linz for Count Thun)
coincides with the period in which he is considered
to have been first strongly influenced
by Haydn.
The influence of these two great composers
upon one another is extremely interesting and
curious, more especially as it did not take eff'ect
till comparatively late in their artistic careers.
They both began working in the general direction
of their time, under the influences which
have been already referred to. In the department
of symphony each was considerably
influenced after a time by a special circumstance
of his life ; Haydn by the appointment to
Esterhaz before alluded to, and the opportunities
it afforded him of orchestral experiment ; and
Mozart by his stay at Mannheim in 1777. For
it appears most likely that the superior abilities