Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Symphony No. 40 in G minor, K. 550

Barbora Seidlová – moderator
Janáček Philharmonic Ostrava
Václav Luks – conductor

Mozart wrote three of his last great symphonies (Symphony No. 39, for this program chosen “Great G minor symphony” and “Jupiter” in C major) during the three summer months of 1788 in Vienna. Was it supposed to be a cycle or a triad, which were no longer composed at that time? Or was Mozart, in the time of great debt, preparing to organize a representative concert and show the audience the height of the creative level he has reached? Whatever the answer, we will devote ourselves to the symphony nicknamed Great – as opposed to the other symphony Mozart composed in G minor. We will hear the usually performed, revised version in which the author transferred some parts which were originally intended for bassoons to clarinets. The most probable reason for this change might be that the premier was attended by Mozart’s friends, clarinet players Johann and Anton Stadler. It was unknown for a long time whether the piece was published during Mozart’s life. Only recently was it discovered, due to the evidence found in Leipzig archive, that before his death Mozart told Johann Wenzel, Prague organist and music publisher, that the first performance of the Great symphony was so terrible he had to leave the room. There is a lot of speculation about the symphony, but they are not important to understand the greatness of Mozart’s skill presented to us with the opening tones.