The Symphony in D major "No. 45", K. 95/73n, was probably written by

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791) was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition and proficiency from an early age ...

in 1770 in Rome.

Structure

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 type of oboe, the soprano oboe pitched in C, ...

s, two

trumpets The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard B o ...

in D, 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 musical instrument in the woodwind 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 virtuosity ...

s and

harpsichord A harpsichord is a musical instrument played by means of a musical keyboard, keyboard. Depressing a key raises its back end within the instrument, which in turn raises a mechanism with a small plectrum made from quill or plastic that plucks one ...

if they were available in the orchestra to reinforce the bass line and act as the continuo. The trumpets are silent in the second movement, in which the oboes are replaced by

flutes The flute is a member of a family of musical instruments in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, producing sound with a vibrating column of air. Flutes produce sound when the player's air flows across an opening. In th ...

. The duration is approximately 12 minutes. The symphony consists of the following

movements Movement may refer to: Generic uses * Movement (clockwork), the internal mechanism of a timepiece * Movement (sign language), a hand movement when signing * Motion, commonly referred to as movement * Movement (music), a division of a larger c ...

: ; I. : \relative c'' ; II. : \relative c'' ; III. : \relative c'' ; IV. : \relative c''

History

Mozart mentioned two symphonies in a letter to his

sister A sister is a woman or a girl who shares parents or a parent with another individual; a female sibling. The male counterpart is a brother. Although the term typically refers to a familial relationship, it is sometimes used endearingly to ref ...

on 25 April 1770. In his revision of the

Köchel catalogue The Köchel catalogue () is a catalogue of compositions by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, originally created by Ludwig Ritter von Köchel, in which the entries are abbreviated ''K.'' or ''KV''. Its numbers reflect the ongoing task of compiling the chro ...

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 Adolf Hitler, Hitler's ''Machtergreifung'', arriving in the United States by 1939. He is b ...

states his opinion that these symphonies are likely to be K. 95 and K. 97, which could be "twin symphonies" due to similarities in style and structure. This view, however, is disputed by other authors, including

Neal Zaslaw Neal Zaslaw (born June 28, 1939) is an American musicologist. Life and career Born in New York, Zaslaw graduated from Harvard in 1961 with a BA and obtained his master's from Juilliard in 1963. He played flute in the American Symphony Orchestra ...

, as the autographs have not survived for either symphony.

: Symphony in D major, K. 73n/95. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Early Symphonies 1764–1771. 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 Christopher Jarvis Haley Hogwood (10 September 194124 September 2014) was an English Conducting, conductor, harpsichordist, and Musicology, musicologist. Founder of the early music ensemble the Academy of Ancient Music, he was an authority on h ...

Decca Records Decca Records is a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis (Decca), Edward Lewis after his acquisition of a gramophone manufacturer, The Decca Gramophone Company. It set up an American subsidiary under the Decca name, which bec ...

, London 1986. For two other D major symphonies from Mozart's first Italian trip, K. 81 and K. 84, the authenticity is clearer. Gersthofer, based on other works definitely by Mozart from this time period, considers Mozart's authorship for K. 81, K. 84, K. 95 and K. 97 "very likely".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 Ethnology ...

, Claudia Maria Knispel (eds.): ''Das Mozart-Handbuch'', vol. 1: Mozarts Orchesterwerke und Konzerte. Laaber-Verlag, Laaber 2007, , . Whether the K. 95 and K. 97 symphonies were originally planned in four movements or had the minuets added later is unclear. 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. It was 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. 95, 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. 95 is given the number 45 in this numbering scheme.

References

External links

* * * {{Authority control 45 Compositions in D major 1770 compositions Mozart: spurious and doubtful works