Mozart

Question 1

When and why did Mozart shift to 4-movement symphonic form instead of 3 movements?

Answer 1

From 1767 onwards.
During his Vienna stay in 1767-68, he shifted to the four movement from favoured by the Viennese composer (e.g. Haydn). He was conforming to the symphonic structure popular at the time.

Question 2

Which style heavily influenced (some of) Mozart’s early symphonies?

Answer 2

The Italian overture.
- all three movements having the same key signature, with the slow middle movement being in the relative minor (recall S1)
- fast-slow-fast

Question 3

Which composers influenced Mozart’s Italian style?

Answer 3

JC Bach, Sammartini, Martini, Nardini (just remember JC Bach and Sammartini)

Question 4

Which composer influenced Mozart’s use of Mannheim techniques?

Answer 4

Stamitz (considered the “father”/founder of the Mannheim school)

Question 5

Which composers influenced Mozart’s opera?

Answer 5

Piccini, Gluck - composers of Italian opera

Question 6

When was Mozart’s visit to Mannheim? How did this influence his music?

Answer 6

1777-1778.
He encountered the extensive use of clarinets in an orchestra for the first time, and this inspired him to incorporate beautiful clarinet writing in his subsequent symphonies.

Question 7

Name a Mozart symphony composed in Salzburg.

Answer 7

S25

Question 8

Which Mozart symphony uses a Mannheim sigh motif extensively?

Answer 8

S40