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WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART (1756 - 1791)
Symphony No. 35 in D major, K. 385 (Haffner)

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Symphony No. 35 did not start life as a symphony. Its history gives us an insight into the practice of musical recycling. Some of the most illustrious composers were well known self-borrowers, with Bach and Handel – weighed down with musical and extra-musical obligations – among the most frequent practitioners of the art. Mozart, with his facility for generating and developing original ideas, seldom indulged in this kind of shortcut, so that the back stories for each recycled piece are noteworthy.

In 1776 Mozart received a commission from the family of Salzburg’s former mayor, Sigmund Haffner, for a large serenade to be played at his daughter’s wedding (known today as the Haffner Serenade, K. 250). The family was pleased, and in the summer of 1782, a year after Mozart finally moved to Vienna to seek his fortune as one of Europe’s first free-lance musicians, it commissioned a similar work to celebrate Haffner’s elevation to the aristocracy. Busy with his own wedding and the staging of his opera The Abduction from the Seraglio, Mozart dragged his feet but finally – after his father’s constant nagging – sent the Haffners a new work.

Half a year later, while planning for a series of subscription concerts (Akademien) in Vienna, Mozart asked his father to return the manuscript. He removed the opening and closing marches and the repeat of the first movement’s exposition, rewrote the minuet, and added flutes and clarinets to the outer movements, repackaging it as Symphony No. 35. Destined to become a perennial favorite, the Symphony was likewise a great success at the sold-out concert of its premiere; even the Emperor applauded heartily, giving the young composer a gift of 25 ducats – although ever in a financial pinch, Mozart had hoped for more.

One of the attractions of this symphony is its sheer beauty of melody and lucidity of construction. The opening movement dispenses with the customary slow introduction, launching right into a "statement – response" theme, the first phrase brash and angular, the second phrase subdued. The famous “Haffner” theme reappears in ingenious transformations. It dominates the entire movement despite the brief appearance of the contrasting second theme and a closing theme.

The Andante is in the typical ternary (ABA) form that reigned for slow movements – although with variations – from the Baroque concerto through the nineteenth century. Mozart creates a particularly long, multi-sectioned theme, and provides an only mildly contrasting middle (B) section. His repeat of the A section contains no variation, probably because he felt that the melodic grace and complexity of the theme did not require it.

One of the distinctions between Mozart and Haydn has been that the former nearly always wrote elegant, courtly minuets, while the latter made his sound like country dances. In this Symphony, however, Mozart musters the full orchestra for a heavy Haydnesque Minuet, strongly suggesting the influence of the older composer. The Trio, for strings alone, is more graceful.

In the brief Finale, a hybrid rondo-sonata form complete with two contrasting themes, Mozart pulls a few surprises with some asymmetrical phrasing, unusual key modulations and a coda that takes off sounding as if it might be a new development.

WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART (1756 - 1791)
Symphony No. 35 in D major, K. 385 (Haffner)

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Symphony No. 35 did not start life as a symphony. Its history gives us an insight into the practice of musical recycling. Some of the most illustrious composers were well known self-borrowers, with Bach and Handel – weighed down with musical and extra-musical obligations – among the most frequent practitioners of the art. Mozart, with his facility for generating and developing original ideas, seldom indulged in this kind of shortcut, so that the back stories for each recycled piece are noteworthy.

In 1776 Mozart received a commission from the family of Salzburg’s former mayor, Sigmund Haffner, for a large serenade to be played at his daughter’s wedding (known today as the Haffner Serenade, K. 250). The family was pleased, and in the summer of 1782, a year after Mozart finally moved to Vienna to seek his fortune as one of Europe’s first free-lance musicians, it commissioned a similar work to celebrate Haffner’s elevation to the aristocracy. Busy with his own wedding and the staging of his opera The Abduction from the Seraglio, Mozart dragged his feet but finally – after his father’s constant nagging – sent the Haffners a new work.

Half a year later, while planning for a series of subscription concerts (Akademien) in Vienna, Mozart asked his father to return the manuscript. He removed the opening and closing marches and the repeat of the first movement’s exposition, rewrote the minuet, and added flutes and clarinets to the outer movements, repackaging it as Symphony No. 35. Destined to become a perennial favorite, the Symphony was likewise a great success at the sold-out concert of its premiere; even the Emperor applauded heartily, giving the young composer a gift of 25 ducats – although ever in a financial pinch, Mozart had hoped for more.

One of the attractions of this symphony is its sheer beauty of melody and lucidity of construction. The opening movement dispenses with the customary slow introduction, launching right into a "statement – response" theme, the first phrase brash and angular, the second phrase subdued. The famous “Haffner” theme reappears in ingenious transformations. It dominates the entire movement despite the brief appearance of the contrasting second theme and a closing theme.

The Andante is in the typical ternary (ABA) form that reigned for slow movements – although with variations – from the Baroque concerto through the nineteenth century. Mozart creates a particularly long, multi-sectioned theme, and provides an only mildly contrasting middle (B) section. His repeat of the A section contains no variation, probably because he felt that the melodic grace and complexity of the theme did not require it.

One of the distinctions between Mozart and Haydn has been that the former nearly always wrote elegant, courtly minuets, while the latter made his sound like country dances. In this Symphony, however, Mozart musters the full orchestra for a heavy Haydnesque Minuet, strongly suggesting the influence of the older composer. The Trio, for strings alone, is more graceful.

In the brief Finale, a hybrid rondo-sonata form complete with two contrasting themes, Mozart pulls a few surprises with some asymmetrical phrasing, unusual key modulations and a coda that takes off sounding as if it might be a new development.