Symphony No. 38 in D Major, "Prague," K. 504
Performances: Nov 10/11, 2007

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) showed such a prodigious talent for music in his early childhood that his father, also a composer, dropped all other ambitions and devoted himself to educating the boy and exhibiting his accomplishments.  Between ages six and fifteen, Mozart was on tour over half the time.  By 1762, he was a virtuoso on the clavier—an early keyboard instrument and predecessor of the piano—and soon became a good organist and violinist as well.  He produced his first minuets at the age of six, and his first symphony just before his ninth birthday, his first oratorio at eleven, and his first opera at twelve.  His final output would total more than 600 compositions.  Much has already been said and studied in the popular media about Mozart’s roguish lifestyle and apprehension of conformity.  It was this aspect of his personality that never won him the support of royalty or the church, which, at that time, was critical to any composer’s survival.  As such, Mozart died young, ill, poor, and relatively unappreciated … only to become the mostly widely acknowledged orchestral composer in history.

When Mozart moved to Vienna in 1781 to begin a new career as a freelance composer, there were not, at first, many occasions that required new symphonies, so he relied on his older symphonies and a few of his favorites by Haydn.  In December 1786, Mozart began work on two new compositions intended for use at his Lenten concert series in Vienna in 1787 and another benefit concert in Prague .  He completed his Piano Concerto in C Major, K503 and his Symphony No. 38, K504, “ Prague ” between December 4 and 6, 1786.  By the middle of January, 1787, Mozart was in Prague and the first of his two benefit concerts was given on January 19, followed the day after by a triumphal performance of his Marriage of Figaro.  The entire trip was a huge success for Mozart.  The two most important structural features of the Prague Symphony are, first, the expansive and somber introduction and, secondly, the absence of a minuet movement, in the manner of the old Italian style.  Also notable are the ferocious and clashing seconds in the development of the final movement.  If one listens closely, it seems Mozart is hinting at certain sonorities from The Marriage of Figaro, so it’s tempting to guess that Mozart was preparing his January 19 audience for the opera performance on January 20.