Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 – 1791)

1. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart(1756 – 1791) Mozart was born in Salzburg on 27 January 1756. From the age of four, Mozart began to study keyboard and composition from his father. Mozart became famous from a very young age. Following employment in Salzburg as Konzertmeisterto the archbishop, Mozart moved to Vienna in 1781 where he spent the rest of his life as a composer and performer. Despite his relatively short life of thirty-five years, his musical output was vast and included famous operas such as Le Nozzedi Figaro (1786), DonGiovanni (1787), Cosifan tutte(1790) and Die Zauberflote(1791). He produced 21 piano concertos, 5violin concertos, 4horn concertos, concertos for clarinet and other wind instruments, 41 symphonies, 27 string quartets, 6string quintets and 17 Masses, including his last work, the incomplete Requiem Mass of 1791. The work was completed after his death by Franz Sussmayr, one of his pupils. Mozart died in Vienna on 5 December 1791.

2. Standard Classical Orchestra

3. Background to Symphony No. 40 in G minor • This great symphony is written in the key of G minor and the melancholy feel of this key pervades the first movement, although the other movements are lighter in mood. • The work comprises the usual four movements, but what is slightly unusual is that Mozart uses sonata form to structure the first, second and fourth movements. The third movement is the usual minuet and trio. Each movement is varied in terms of tempo, as shown below.

15. Glossary Augmentation doubling (or more) of the original note values Chromatically moving by semitones up or down Pathetiqueliterally 'pathetic', refers to a melancholy mood Semitone half a tone - the distance between a white note and an adjacent black note on a keyboard Sinfoniaan Italian form in origin, these were works in three sections for strings and continuo

16. Text taken from Edexcel GCSE Music – John Arkell, Jonny Martin Pearson Education Ltd. 2009