Updates | Contact | Cairo Opera House | Links
| |
Home | Composers Index
| Musical Epochs
| Musical Forms Updates | Contact | Cairo Opera House | Links |
Mozart rarely composed with no particular purpose in mind. Generally, his works were written on commission, or for his own concerts, or as gifts for friends. Such transactions were usually cataloged in the composer's letters and writings. However, in this case, the historical record is silent. Music scholars have found no evidence of a commission; no one paid for these symphonies to be written. Perhaps Mozart composed them on speculation, in hopes of selling them or presenting them in a Viennese concert. If so, he was disappointed, for they were not published during his lifetime, and there is no clear evidence of a performance. Nevertheless, the sudden burst of activity does suggest that the composer had some objective in mind, and it now seems that his goal may have been a London tour. As a child, Mozart had spent over a year living in London, absorbing the musical ambience. Even in adulthood in Vienna, he had several close English friends, and since at least 1786, he had spoken of traveling to London to present a concert series. In the event of such a tour, it was customary for composers to bring new works, preferably a set of three or six symphonies. Haydn did exactly that when he came to London in the 1790s. Scholars now suggest that, several years before Haydn's journey, Mozart wrote these three symphonies while dreaming of a similar excursion, though he never embarked upon the adventure.
The Symphony no. 41 is known as the Jupiter Symphony, a title not granted it by its creator. Rather, the title seems to have originated, ironically enough, in London, thanks to the impresario Johann Peter Salomon, who would later bring Haydn to England. The nickname seems to have been inspired by a sense of Olympian grandeur in this, Mozart's largest and most complex symphony. It is a long step beyond the angelic grace usually associated with Mozart's name. Here, he calls upon a more robust spirit, hinting at the grand Romantic symphonies that would come with Beethoven. The symphony is Jupiter-like in another way, too, for it is frequently jovial, as if the Greek god himself were laughing heartily in the celebratory key of C major. Mozart's Forty-first Symphony proved inspirational to many composers, especially Haydn, who modeled his 95th and 98th symphonies on the Jupiter. Yet the most succinct reflection on the work's importance is found in the critiques of Robert Schumann, who in 1835 wrote "about many things in this world there is simply nothing to be said --- for example, about Mozart's C-major symphony with the fugue, much of Shakespeare, and some of Beethoven." It is perhaps significant that Schumann does not merely equate the Jupiter with Shakespeare and Beethoven. Rather, he places this piece above many of those master's efforts.