The Symphony in D major "No. 44", K. 81/73l, may have been written by

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition r ...

in 1770 in Rome, although it has sometimes also been attributed to his father

Leopold Mozart Johann Georg Leopold Mozart (November 14, 1719 – May 28, 1787) was a German composer, violinist and theorist. He is best known today as the father and teacher of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and for his violin textbook ''Versuch einer gründlichen ...

. It is now also catalogued as Eisen D 14 (LMV VII:D14) in

Cliff Eisen Cliff Eisen (born 21 January 1952 in Toronto) is a Canadian musicologist and a Mozart expert. He was based in the Department of Music at King's College London. He studied at the University of Toronto and at Cornell University, and has taught at the ...

's catalogue of Leopold Mozart's symphonies. The symphony is scored for two

oboe The oboe ( ) is a type of double reed woodwind instrument. Oboes are usually made of wood, but may also be made of synthetic materials, such as plastic, resin, or hybrid composites. The most common oboe plays in the treble or soprano range. A ...

s, two

horns Horns or The Horns may refer to: * Plural of Horn (instrument), a group of musical instruments all with a horn-shaped bells * The Horns (Colorado), a summit on Cheyenne Mountain * ''Horns'' (novel), a dark fantasy novel written in 2010 by Joe Hill ...

and

strings String or strings may refer to: *String (structure), a long flexible structure made from threads twisted together, which is used to tie, bind, or hang other objects Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Strings'' (1991 film), a Canadian anim ...

. In contemporary orchestras, it was also usual to include

bassoon The bassoon is a woodwind instrument in the double reed family, which plays in the tenor and bass ranges. It is composed of six pieces, and is usually made of wood. It is known for its distinctive tone color, wide range, versatility, and virtuo ...

s and

harpsichord A harpsichord ( it, clavicembalo; french: clavecin; german: Cembalo; es, clavecín; pt, cravo; nl, klavecimbel; pl, klawesyn) is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. This activates a row of levers that turn a trigger mechanism ...

if they were available in the orchestra to reinforce the bass line and act as the continuo. The horns are silent for the second movement. The duration is approximately 10 minutes. : \relative c' The symphony consists of the following movements: #

Allegro Allegro may refer to: Common meanings * Allegro (music), a tempo marking indicate to play fast, quickly and bright * Allegro (ballet), brisk and lively movement Artistic works * L'Allegro (1645), a poem by John Milton * ''Allegro'' (Satie), an ...

, #

Andante Andante may refer to: Arts * Andante (tempo), a moderately slow musical tempo * ''Andante'' (manga), a shōjo manga by Miho Obana * "Andante" (song), a song by Hitomi Yaida * "Andante, Andante", a 1980 song by ABBA from ''Super Trouper'' * ' ...

, # Allegro molto, The form of the symphony is that of an

Italian overture The Italian overture is a piece of orchestral music which opened several operas, oratorios and other large-scale works in the late 17th and early 18th centuries. An Italian overture typically has a three- movement structure – the outer movements ...

. No autographs exist for Mozart's four D major symphonies written during his first trip to

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

(K. 81, K. 84, K. 95 and K. 97), and as such their authenticity is doubtful. A copy of K. 81, dated 25 April 1770, attributes the symphony to Wolfgang.Neal Zaslaw: Symphony in D major, K. . Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: The Earliest Symphonies. Recording of the

Academy of Ancient Music The Academy of Ancient Music (AAM) is a British period-instrument orchestra based in Cambridge, England. Founded by harpsichordist Christopher Hogwood in 1973, it was named after an 18th-century organisation of the same name (originally the A ...

. Concertmaster: Jaap Schröder, Continuo: Christopher Hogwood. Decca Record, London 1986. A letter from 25 April 1770 from Mozart to his sister states that

Leopold Leopold may refer to: People * Leopold (given name) * Leopold (surname) Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional characters * Leopold (''The Simpsons''), Superintendent Chalmers' assistant on ''The Simpsons'' * Leopold Bloom, the protagonist o ...

had copied one of his (Mozart's) symphonies so that the autograph could remain in the house.Volker Scherliess: ''Die Sinfonien.'' In:

Silke Leopold Silke Leopold (born 30 November 1948) is a German musicologist and university lecturer. Life Born in Hamburg, Leopold studied musicology, theatre studies, Romance languages and literature at the University of Hamburg and the University of Rome, ...

(editor): ''Mozart-Handbuch.'' Bärenreiter-Verlag, Kassel 2005, , . A catalogue of Breitkopf & Härtel lists Leopold as the composer, but the reason for this could be that Leopold, and not Wolfgang, presented the work to them. In his edition of the Köchel catalogue,

Alfred Einstein Alfred Einstein (December 30, 1880February 13, 1952) was a German-American musicologist and music editor. He was born in Munich and fled Nazi Germany after Hitler's ''Machtergreifung'', arriving in the United States by 1939. He is best known for b ...

rejects the authorship of Leopold, stating that it would be strange if Leopold composed one of the most "charming and intelligent" of the Italian symphonies of 1770. However, in the similar case of the "Lambach" symphonies, the "more modern" "New Lambach" symphony turned out to be Leopold's work. Also, Neal Zaslaw disagrees with this viewpoint ("charming and intelligent") of K. 81, instead calling it "bright, superficial and conventional".

Bernhard Paumgartner Bernhard Paumgartner (born 14 November 1887 in Vienna; died 27 July 1971 in Salzburg) was an Austrian conductor, composer and musicologist. He is most famous for being Herbert von Karajan's composition teacher at the Mozarteum in Salzburg, where ...

assigned the symphony to Wolfgang, and stated (similarly to Wolfgang Gersthofer) that these four Italian symphonies are similar to each other, making it likely that they are all the work of the same composer, and that they are characteristic of Mozart's symphonies composed in Italy. Thus, they consider it very likely that Mozart was the author of all four symphonies.Wolfgang Gersthofer: ''Sinfonien KV 16–134. ''In:

Joachim Brügge Joachim Brügge (born in 1958) is a German musicologist and composer. Life Brügge was born in Kiel. After his studies of music theory at the Musikhochschule Lübeck (Diploma 1985), he studied Historical and Systematic Musicology/Music Ethnolo ...

, Claudia Maria Knispel (edits.): ''Das Mozart-Handbuch, volume 1: Mozarts Orchesterwerke und Konzerte. ''Laaber-Verlag, Laaber 2007, , pp. 15–27. The

Alte Mozart-Ausgabe The ''Alte Mozart-Ausgabe'' is the name by which the first complete edition of the music of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, is known nowadays, published by Breitkopf & Härtel from January 1877 to December 1883, with supplements published until 1910. Th ...

(published 1879–1882) gives the numbering sequence 1–41 for the 41 numbered symphonies. The unnumbered symphonies (some, including K. 81, published in supplements to the Alte-Mozart Ausgabe until 1910) are sometimes given numbers in the range 42 to 56, even though they were written earlier than Mozart's Symphony No. 41 (written in 1788). The symphony K. 81 is given the number 44 in this numbering scheme.

References

External links

* * {{Authority control 44 Compositions in D major 1770 compositions Mozart: spurious and doubtful works