× Board & Staff Make a Donation Giving Support Education Upcoming Events Past Events
Home Board & Staff Make a Donation Giving Support Education Upcoming Events
Symphony No. 38 in D Major, K. 504, “Prague”
W.A. Mozart

Symphony No. 38 in D Major, K. 504, “Prague”
W.A. Mozart
(b. January 27, 1756 in Salzburg, Austria; d. December 5, 1791 in Vienna, Austria)

"My Praguers Understand Me"

In late 1786 Vienna’s interest in his music began to cool, but in January 1787 Mozart came to Prague where he got to enjoy superstardom. The city was Figaro-mad—the opera was being played, whistled, and turned into dance music on every street corner and all around him he was met with a level of adoration he rarely found at home. He had come to conduct a Figaro revival and to premiere his new symphony, the Prague, a personal thank-you to the city that truly understood him; his symphony delivered it on a grand scale.

Though written for the concert hall, the symphony is deeply theatrical. At the time of its composition, Mozart was already sketching his next masterpiece for Prague: Don Giovanni. The Prague Symphony is infused with that same operatic drama. Its unusually long, dark, and brooding slow introduction, without a doubt some of the most sophisticated music he ever wrote, signaled to the audience they were about to hear something far beyond mere entertainment.

The Prague is unique among Mozart’s late symphonies for its three-movement structure. It conspicuously lacks the standard third-movement Minuet. This wasn't an oversight, but a deliberate choice. By omitting the courtly dance, the symphony gains a leaner, more propulsive, and Bohemian intensity. It leaps directly from the profound beauty of the slow movement into a finale of breathtaking virtuosity.

- Adagio — Allegro: The symphony begins with a massive, serious introduction that builds enormous tension. When the Allegro finally breaks through, it is a marvel of complex, contrapuntal energy, showing a composer at the absolute peak of his technical powers.

- Andante: A movement of immense lyrical grace. Its 6/8 meter gives it a sense of movement that acts as a sophisticated hybrid—perhaps designed to stand in for the missing minuet. In your Front-Row setting, the intricate woodwind conversations—a hallmark of the Prague style—stand out particularly vividly.

- Presto: A high-speed chase that opens with a direct quotation from the Marriage of Figaro duet between Cherubino and Susanna. It is a whirlwind of rhythmic wit and brilliance, designed to leave the Prague audience exhilarated and exhausted.

The premiere of the Prague Symphony on January 19, 1787, was not just another concert; it was a benefit performance expressly for Mozart’s own pocket. In Vienna, he often struggled to sell subscriptions, but in Prague, it was mad adulation. One contemporary report noted that the applause was so relentless Mozart was forced to return to the keyboard and improvise for a full half-hour—an unprecedented encore that cemented his status as the city's adopted son.

Prague was known as the most musically literate city in Europe and it influenced Mozart's writing. Knowing the local players were masters of wind instruments, he gave the flutes, oboes, and bassoons roles of unprecedented importance and difficulty.

Mozart made four more trips to Prague and there is a bittersweet subtext to his final trip in 1791. He was there to debut La clemenza di Tito for the coronation of Leopold II, a grueling commission he accepted despite being terminally ill and far behind on his commitment to complete his Requiem. One can't help but wonder: how much more of that final masterpiece would he himself have finished if he hadn't given so much of his remaining time and strength to Prague?

An extraordinary footnote to this relationship is how the two cities handled his death. Mozart died in Vienna in December 1791 and was buried in a simple grave with minimal public ceremony. Prague, on the other hand, went into a period of city-wide mourning. Nine days after his death, a Requiem mass was held at the Church of St. Nicholas. Over 4,000 people—nearly a tenth of the city—swarmed the square. The orchestra and choir, the very Praguers who premiered the symphony, performed for free to honor the man who in their hearts would never die.

Here is some Mozart history to reward readers who have made it all the way to the end, a postscript from 1907. In that year the Austrian musicologist Lothar Perger identified that Mozart’s Symphony No. 37 was not actually by Mozart but the work of Michael Haydn. The misattribution started when the work debuted along with the first performance of Mozart’s Symphony No. 36, “Linz,” in a concert November 4, 1783. Mozart did write a 20 bar slow introduction and reorchestrated Michael Haydn’s symphony, but nothing else.

There is exquisite tension between scholarship and tradition and in music history sometimes scholarship wins. Schubert’s Unfinished also featured on our program exemplifies how arbitrary and chaotic the world of musicology can be. The Unfinished has bounced between No. 7 and No. 8 for over a century. Meanwhile, his "Great" C Major Symphony has occupied every slot from No. 7 to No. 10. The numbers are less a timeline and more a record of which manuscripts were pulled out of which dusty drawers first.

By contrast, Mozart and Haydn remained largely immune to scholarly meddling. Historically we have recognized 41 symphonies for Mozart and 104 for Haydn. Their oeuvre is rightly perceived as too big to renumber. The numbers became "brand names" before the musicologists could get their hands on them. Thus we call this the Prague because it was written for that city and its designation as Number 38 is more a matter of historical convenience than strict chronology.

(c) 2013, 2026 by Steven Hollingsworth
Creative Commons Public Attribution 3.0 United States License
Contact: steve@trecorde.net

Symphony No. 38 in D Major, K. 504, “Prague”
W.A. Mozart

Symphony No. 38 in D Major, K. 504, “Prague”
W.A. Mozart
(b. January 27, 1756 in Salzburg, Austria; d. December 5, 1791 in Vienna, Austria)

"My Praguers Understand Me"

In late 1786 Vienna’s interest in his music began to cool, but in January 1787 Mozart came to Prague where he got to enjoy superstardom. The city was Figaro-mad—the opera was being played, whistled, and turned into dance music on every street corner and all around him he was met with a level of adoration he rarely found at home. He had come to conduct a Figaro revival and to premiere his new symphony, the Prague, a personal thank-you to the city that truly understood him; his symphony delivered it on a grand scale.

Though written for the concert hall, the symphony is deeply theatrical. At the time of its composition, Mozart was already sketching his next masterpiece for Prague: Don Giovanni. The Prague Symphony is infused with that same operatic drama. Its unusually long, dark, and brooding slow introduction, without a doubt some of the most sophisticated music he ever wrote, signaled to the audience they were about to hear something far beyond mere entertainment.

The Prague is unique among Mozart’s late symphonies for its three-movement structure. It conspicuously lacks the standard third-movement Minuet. This wasn't an oversight, but a deliberate choice. By omitting the courtly dance, the symphony gains a leaner, more propulsive, and Bohemian intensity. It leaps directly from the profound beauty of the slow movement into a finale of breathtaking virtuosity.

- Adagio — Allegro: The symphony begins with a massive, serious introduction that builds enormous tension. When the Allegro finally breaks through, it is a marvel of complex, contrapuntal energy, showing a composer at the absolute peak of his technical powers.

- Andante: A movement of immense lyrical grace. Its 6/8 meter gives it a sense of movement that acts as a sophisticated hybrid—perhaps designed to stand in for the missing minuet. In your Front-Row setting, the intricate woodwind conversations—a hallmark of the Prague style—stand out particularly vividly.

- Presto: A high-speed chase that opens with a direct quotation from the Marriage of Figaro duet between Cherubino and Susanna. It is a whirlwind of rhythmic wit and brilliance, designed to leave the Prague audience exhilarated and exhausted.

The premiere of the Prague Symphony on January 19, 1787, was not just another concert; it was a benefit performance expressly for Mozart’s own pocket. In Vienna, he often struggled to sell subscriptions, but in Prague, it was mad adulation. One contemporary report noted that the applause was so relentless Mozart was forced to return to the keyboard and improvise for a full half-hour—an unprecedented encore that cemented his status as the city's adopted son.

Prague was known as the most musically literate city in Europe and it influenced Mozart's writing. Knowing the local players were masters of wind instruments, he gave the flutes, oboes, and bassoons roles of unprecedented importance and difficulty.

Mozart made four more trips to Prague and there is a bittersweet subtext to his final trip in 1791. He was there to debut La clemenza di Tito for the coronation of Leopold II, a grueling commission he accepted despite being terminally ill and far behind on his commitment to complete his Requiem. One can't help but wonder: how much more of that final masterpiece would he himself have finished if he hadn't given so much of his remaining time and strength to Prague?

An extraordinary footnote to this relationship is how the two cities handled his death. Mozart died in Vienna in December 1791 and was buried in a simple grave with minimal public ceremony. Prague, on the other hand, went into a period of city-wide mourning. Nine days after his death, a Requiem mass was held at the Church of St. Nicholas. Over 4,000 people—nearly a tenth of the city—swarmed the square. The orchestra and choir, the very Praguers who premiered the symphony, performed for free to honor the man who in their hearts would never die.

Here is some Mozart history to reward readers who have made it all the way to the end, a postscript from 1907. In that year the Austrian musicologist Lothar Perger identified that Mozart’s Symphony No. 37 was not actually by Mozart but the work of Michael Haydn. The misattribution started when the work debuted along with the first performance of Mozart’s Symphony No. 36, “Linz,” in a concert November 4, 1783. Mozart did write a 20 bar slow introduction and reorchestrated Michael Haydn’s symphony, but nothing else.

There is exquisite tension between scholarship and tradition and in music history sometimes scholarship wins. Schubert’s Unfinished also featured on our program exemplifies how arbitrary and chaotic the world of musicology can be. The Unfinished has bounced between No. 7 and No. 8 for over a century. Meanwhile, his "Great" C Major Symphony has occupied every slot from No. 7 to No. 10. The numbers are less a timeline and more a record of which manuscripts were pulled out of which dusty drawers first.

By contrast, Mozart and Haydn remained largely immune to scholarly meddling. Historically we have recognized 41 symphonies for Mozart and 104 for Haydn. Their oeuvre is rightly perceived as too big to renumber. The numbers became "brand names" before the musicologists could get their hands on them. Thus we call this the Prague because it was written for that city and its designation as Number 38 is more a matter of historical convenience than strict chronology.

(c) 2013, 2026 by Steven Hollingsworth
Creative Commons Public Attribution 3.0 United States License
Contact: steve@trecorde.net