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    Mozart and His Last Three Symphonies. A Myth Laid to Rest?Author(s): Andrew SteptoeSource: The Musical Times, Vol. 132, No. 1785 (Nov., 1991), pp. 550-551Published by: Musical Times Publications Ltd.Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/966205.

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    Mozart nd his

    ast three

    symphonies

    - a

    myth

    aid

    to

    rest?

    Andrew

    teptoe

    Did Mozart ever hear his last three

    symphonies

    in

    performance?

    One of the more

    interesting hanges

    in

    perceptions

    of Mozart and his activities o have taken

    place

    over recent

    years

    concerns these

    works.

    The

    symphonies

    were

    apparently

    composed

    over a short

    period

    of

    unparalleled

    creative

    nergy

    n the

    summer f

    1788. The

    E

    b

    symphony

    (K543)

    was entered into

    Mozart's

    Verzeichnass

    ller meinerWerke n

    26

    June,

    followed

    by

    the G

    minor

    K550)

    on

    25

    July

    nd

    the

    C

    major (K551)

    on 10

    August.

    Over the same

    period,Mozart also

    completed

    two

    piano

    trios,

    a

    keyboard

    sonata,

    and several

    other

    minor

    works.

    The

    prevailing

    view for

    many

    decades has been that

    Mozart

    never heard the last three

    symphonies.

    t has

    been

    thought

    that

    they

    were

    writtenfor

    a series

    of

    subscription

    concerts

    planned

    for the

    summer

    or

    autumn of 1788 n

    Vienna.

    The

    only

    nformationbout

    these concerts

    comes from letter Mozart

    wrote to

    Michael

    Puchberg

    n

    which he

    requested

    a loan:'

    'I

    dare to

    implore

    ou

    to

    help

    me out with

    hundred

    gulden

    ntilnext

    week,

    when

    my

    oncertsnthe

    Casino

    are

    o

    begin. y

    hat ime

    shall

    ertainly

    ave eceived

    my

    subscription oney

    nd

    shall

    hen

    e able

    quite asily

    o

    pay you

    back

    136

    gulden

    with

    my

    warmest

    hanks. take

    the ibertyf ending ou wo ickets hich,s a brother,

    beg you

    to

    accept

    without

    ayment

    ..'

    Unfortunately,

    he

    original

    of this etter s

    lost.

    It is

    generally ssigned

    to

    June

    788,

    nd

    the

    subscription

    s

    takento refer o the

    three

    tring uintets

    K406,

    515 and

    516)

    that Mozart tried

    unsuccessfully

    o

    publish

    at

    4

    ducats a

    copy.2

    The concerts are

    conventionally

    believed not to have materialized.3

    VolkmarBraunbehrens

    was

    one of the

    first

    eriously

    to

    question

    thisview in his book Mozart n

    Wien.4

    e

    argued

    thatthe etter

    may

    have been written

    ater han

    June,

    erhaps

    nthe

    early

    utumn when concerts

    might

    have been more

    feasible,

    and

    that the

    subscription

    money relates to the concerts ratherthan the string

    quintet publication.

    The fact that Mozart

    was able to

    present

    Puchberg

    with

    tickets

    suggests

    that the

    arrangements

    were far

    dvanced. The

    theme was

    pur-

    sued

    by

    Robbins

    Landon in 1791:

    Mozart's ast

    Year.5s

    e

    suggested

    not

    only

    that he ast three

    ymphonies

    were

    performed

    t

    these

    subscription

    oncerts,

    ut thatK550

    was

    played

    at

    the

    Tonkiinstler-Societditoncerts con-

    ducted

    by

    Salieri on 16

    and

    17

    April

    1791

    a

    possibility

    already recognized

    by

    Deutsch).6

    Zaslow discusses the

    matter

    extensively

    n his

    monumental book on the

    symphonies,

    dding

    possible

    performances

    f

    he

    sym-

    phonies

    in

    Leipzig

    (1789)

    and Frankfurt

    1790)

    during

    Mozart's tours

    to

    these cities.7His

    conclusion reflects

    the

    new climate f

    opinion

    concerning

    hese

    works:

    We

    may ayto rest hemyth hat he ast three ymphonies

    remained

    unperformed uring

    his

    [Mozart's]

    ifetime'.8

    A

    striking

    spect

    of this

    argument

    s that t has

    not

    resultedfrom he

    discovery

    ofnew

    facts,

    r the

    appear-

    ance of substantial

    documentary

    vidence

    concerning

    performances

    f the

    symphonies.

    Rather,

    t

    appears

    primarily

    to be a reaction

    against

    the

    romantic

    perspective

    on

    Mozart,

    and 'art for

    art's sake'.

    The

    romantic

    gloss

    was

    embodied

    by

    Alfred insteinwhen

    he linked these

    symphonies

    with

    the notion

    that

    Mozart was an

    irrepressible enius

    divorced fromhis

    own time. He stated that the lack of

    performances

    was:9

    'perhaps ymbolic

    f heir

    osition

    n the

    history

    f

    music

    and of human

    ndeavour,

    epresenting

    o

    occasion,

    o

    immediate

    urpose,

    ut n

    appeal

    to

    eternity'.

    Modern

    commentators

    continuallyemphasize

    the

    practical

    natureof Mozart's work.As Robbins Landon

    puts

    it:

    The

    fact

    cannot

    be overstated: Mozart was

    a

    supreme pragmatist

    and finishedworks

    exclusively

    with a

    specific

    performance

    n

    view'.10

    his

    has

    led

    to

    the

    situation that doubt about the

    performance

    f the

    last three

    symphonies

    s

    tantamount

    o

    acceptance

    of

    the

    romantic

    perspective.

    Braunbehrens,

    or

    xample,

    says: 1

    'Why

    id

    he

    write

    he ast hree

    ymphonies

    to

    file

    way

    in

    a drawer

    erhaps?

    hat

    wouldbe

    a

    first,

    ince

    Mozart

    never

    wrote

    urely

    or

    is

    wn

    njoyment;

    t s wellknown

    that

    he

    composed

    exclusively

    n commission r for

    specific

    ccasion'.

    while

    Zaslow

    argues

    that:12

    'The

    very

    dea

    that

    Mozartwouldhave

    written

    hree

    uch

    works,

    unprecedented

    n

    length

    nd

    complexity,nly

    o

    please

    himself

    r

    because

    he

    was

    nspired,

    lies

    n

    he ace f

    his known ttitudes

    o

    music nd

    life,

    nd the

    financial

    straits

    n

    which e then ound imself'.

    However, this association between a romantic

    perspective

    and lack of

    performances

    s flawed. It is

    perfectly lausible

    to

    suggest

    that Mozart wrote

    the

    symphonies

    with

    subscription

    eries n

    mind,

    but that

    the concertsnever took

    place.

    The

    fact

    hat one or two

    of the

    symphonies may

    have been

    played

    in

    Leipzig,

    Frankfurt,

    r

    three

    years

    later

    n

    Vienna

    is

    irrelevant,

    since these ater

    performances

    were

    opportunistic.

    he

    'practical'

    Mozart

    would,

    not have

    composed sym-

    phonies against

    the

    chance

    that a concertvenue

    might

    present

    tself ver the

    next

    two or three

    years.

    More-

    over,

    even

    the most

    generous

    interpretation

    f the

    presently

    vailable evidence makes

    it

    hard to conclude

    that all three

    symphonies

    were

    performed

    n

    Mozart's

    presence

    after

    788.

    The

    strongest

    ase can be made for

    K550beingplayedat the Tonkiinstler-Societtitoncerts

    550

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    in Vienna

    n 1791. t has

    been

    suggested

    thatK551

    might

    have been

    included in the concert

    that Mozart held in

    Frankfurtn

    October

    1790,

    since the

    programme

    was

    planned

    tostart nd finishwith

    symphony.

    However,

    the one

    contemporary

    ccount of the event

    by

    Count

    Ludwig

    von Benthein-Steinfurttates

    that the first

    symphony

    was

    one

    which he had

    'long possessed'

    (so

    was not

    new),

    while

    the

    final

    symphony

    was not

    performed ecause the concerthad longoverrun.13t s

    conceivable

    that the

    final

    ymphony

    was

    heard a few

    days

    later

    in

    Mainz,

    but

    documentary

    evidence is

    lacking.14

    t

    can also be

    argued

    that

    K551 was

    included

    in

    the

    concertthat Mozart mounted

    in

    Leipzig

    in

    May

    1789,

    but

    surviving eports

    of this

    event are inconclu-

    sive.15

    Furthermore,

    his still

    leaves K543 without

    a

    hearing.

    The assertion that Mozart

    heard

    all

    three

    works therefore

    ests

    primarily

    n

    the existence of the

    1788 concert

    eries.

    Since so

    many

    modern authorities

    have

    written

    n

    favour

    f

    hese

    concerts,

    t

    may

    be

    worth

    ehearsing

    he

    arguments against

    their occurrence.

    Firstly,

    he

    only

    evidence about the concerts omes

    from

    Mozart's

    etter.

    No notices in

    contemporary

    eriodicals,

    old tickets r

    descriptionsbymembers of the audience or orchestra

    have

    yet

    been unearthed. The

    existence

    of

    the

    sym-

    phonies

    themselves is

    not

    significant,

    ince

    Mozart

    might

    have

    completed

    these

    works before

    his

    plan

    for

    the concertswas abandoned. It

    might

    be

    argued

    that

    f

    the

    concerts were

    cancelled,

    t is

    unlikely

    hat Mozart

    would

    have

    finished

    ll

    three

    ymphonies, nowing

    his

    tendency

    o

    complete

    works

    only

    t the ast minute.But

    this

    brings

    us to one of the

    most

    telling

    arguments

    against

    he

    concerts

    having

    taken

    place.

    Paper typing

    studies

    by

    Alan

    Tyson

    indicate

    that

    the first two

    movements of the last

    piano

    concerto

    K595)

    together

    with the

    first

    even leaves of the

    finale

    were

    written n

    paper

    that Mozart

    only

    used between

    December

    1787

    and February1789.16 he concerto was not however

    completed

    and entered nto

    the

    Verzeichnfiss

    ntil

    Janu-

    ary

    1791. t s

    highly mprobable

    that

    Mozart

    planned

    a

    series

    of

    concerts n the

    scale

    thatwould

    accommodate

    symphonies

    without

    presenting

    new

    piano

    concerti.

    He

    might

    have

    intended to use

    his

    last concerto K537

    (completed

    in

    February

    1788)

    since

    this

    had not

    yet

    been

    played,

    but he

    would

    certainly

    have

    required

    other works. It is also

    probable

    that he would have

    composed

    symphonies

    before

    oncerti,

    ince he could

    rely

    on his own skills t the

    keyboard

    to

    get through

    concerto even

    if

    the

    ink

    was

    still

    wet. The

    strong

    implication

    s

    that Mozart intended

    K595

    for

    his 1788

    concert

    series,

    but thathe

    put

    the work aside when

    plans

    for he series were called off.

    How

    probable

    is it that an orchestral oncert

    series

    would have taken

    place

    in

    the summer or autumn of

    1788? The limited

    urviving

    ecordshave been collated

    by Mary

    Sue

    Morrow.7

    She has found

    evidence

    for

    consistent concert

    activity every

    winter and

    spring

    over this

    era

    in

    Vienna,

    but

    very

    ittle ver the summer

    or

    autumn,

    when the

    nobility

    tended to be at their

    country

    esidences. n

    1787,

    or

    xample,

    nformation

    s

    extant

    oncerning

    series

    of

    early morning

    oncerts n

    the Belvedere

    gardens

    over

    the

    summer,

    followed

    by

    two

    benefit

    oncerts

    n

    September

    and October.

    But

    then no furthervents are recordeduntil he traditional

    Christmas

    Tonkiinstler-Societ~it

    oncerts on 22 and 23

    December. In

    1788,

    no concerts between

    April

    and

    December are knownof, xcepttheperformancefAcis

    etGalathea ith Mozart's orchestrationn November. n

    1789 and

    1790,

    no recordsof

    ny

    concerts etween

    April

    and December have been

    discovered.

    The successful

    promotion

    f

    ubscription

    oncerts n

    the summer or autumn of

    1788 seems

    particularly

    unlikely

    n view of

    the

    political

    situation

    at

    the time.

    War

    against

    the Turks was declared

    early

    n the

    year.

    Many

    of

    the

    nobility

    who

    might

    have

    patronised

    concertswere at thefront,s social and cultural ife n

    Vienna was

    curtailed.The Kdirntnerthor

    heater

    was

    closed,

    and in

    July

    oseph

    I

    decided to

    withdraw

    public

    subsidy

    from he Italian

    Opera.

    Vienna was strained

    economically,

    with increases

    in

    the

    price

    of bread

    leading

    to

    riots nd the

    ooting

    f

    bakeries

    n

    July.18

    7%

    war tax was

    imposed

    at

    the

    end

    of the

    year,

    s

    the

    first

    campaign

    ended

    in

    disorganization

    nd

    failure.

    Other

    arguments

    gainst

    this

    concert

    eries

    can also

    be made. We

    know

    for

    xample

    that

    year

    ater

    in

    July

    1789),

    Mozart

    again

    tried o mount a concert

    eries,

    but

    that he

    failed

    to secure

    any

    subscribers

    except

    for

    Gottfriedvan

    Swieten.

    A

    charming

    description

    of

    Mozart's

    family

    life written

    by

    the

    visiting

    Dane

    Joachim

    aniel Preisler ates from ate

    August

    178819.

    t

    is clear that Preisler poke to Mozart about his plans

    and musical

    activities,

    yet

    no

    mention s

    made of

    any

    concerts. It is also

    possible

    that the last three

    sym-

    phonies

    were not written for

    Vienna at

    all,

    but

    for

    publication

    or in

    preparation

    for a

    projected

    visit to

    England.20

    t

    present

    therefore,

    he evidence seems

    to

    me to

    weigh against

    the

    1788

    subscription

    eries. New

    facts

    may emerge,

    with

    the

    discovery

    of fresh ontem-

    porary

    records of

    concerts

    n

    Vienna or

    elsewhere,

    or

    the location of the

    original

    undated letter o

    Puchberg.

    There

    may,

    for

    xample,

    have been concerts

    nvolving

    Mozart

    early

    n

    1791,

    during

    the visit of the

    King

    and

    Queen

    of

    Naples

    to

    Vienna. It

    is

    however

    surely

    premature

    o

    dismiss as a fanciful

    myth

    he notion

    that

    not all the astsymphonieswereperformed yMozart.

    Of

    course

    it

    s

    romantic

    o

    argue

    that

    Mozart

    wrote

    the

    symphonies

    out of nner

    compulsion

    with no

    venue

    in

    mind. But

    s it

    not

    equally

    sentimental o

    believe,

    on the

    basis of the

    slim evidence

    presently

    vailable,

    that

    he

    must have

    heard these works?

    References

    'FromTheLetters

    f

    Mozart

    ndhis

    Family,

    dited

    by

    E.

    Anderson.

    Third dition evised

    by

    S. Sadie

    and F. Smart

    London,1985).

    The etter s isted

    s

    number1076

    n

    Mozart:

    Briefe ndAufzeichnungen,

    dited

    by

    W. A.

    Bauer,

    O. E. Deutsch

    and

    J.

    H. Eibl

    Kassel,

    1962-1975).

    y

    the

    Casino',

    Mozart was

    probablyreferring

    o the

    Trattnerhof,

    ince

    Mary

    Sue Morrow

    personal

    communication)

    has discovered evidence that

    various

    concerts

    nd

    other vents

    were

    held

    in a

    section of hismassive

    building

    known

    as

    the Casino.

    2See Eibl's

    commentary

    o etter

    076,

    p

    cit,

    p.367-369.

    3See,for xample,0. E. Deutsch: Mozart: Documentaryiography,rans E. Blom,P.

    Branscombe,

    nd

    J.

    Noble

    (London, 1966),

    320.

    4First

    ublished

    inGerman n

    1986,

    nd translated

    nto

    English

    s

    Mozart n Vienna

    1781-1791

    London,

    1990).

    1791:

    Mozart's astYear

    London, 1988),

    1-33.

    6Deutsch,

    p

    cit,

    20.

    7See N. Zaslow:

    Mozart's

    ymphonies:

    ontext,

    erformance

    ractice,

    eception

    Oxford,

    1989),

    421-431.

    8Zaslow,

    op

    cit,

    31.

    9Mozart:

    is

    Life,

    is

    Character,

    is

    Work

    London, 1947),

    245.

    lORobbins

    andon,

    op

    cit,

    3.

    Braunbehrens,

    p

    cit,

    24.

    12Zaslow,

    p

    cit,

    31.

    13Deutsch,

    p

    cit,

    75-376.

    14Adam ottron:Mozart

    nd

    Mainz

    Mainz,

    1951)

    48.

    15Zaslow,

    p

    cit,

    23-427.

    16Alan

    yson:

    Mozart: tudies

    f

    he

    Autograph

    cores

    Cambridge,

    1987),

    156.

    17Mary

    ue

    Morrow: Concert

    ife

    n

    Haydn's

    Vienna

    Stuyvesant,

    989).

    18See .

    Wangermann:

    rom

    oseph

    I to

    he

    acobin

    rials

    London,

    1959),

    0.

    g9Deutsch,

    p

    cit,

    23-325.

    20See S. Sadie: Mozart

    Symphonies

    London,

    1986),

    80. Mozart

    may

    have been

    encouraged by

    the

    recent

    publication

    of

    Haydn's

    'Paris'

    symphonies

    by

    the

    ViennesepublisherArtaria o attempt comparableserieshimself.

    551

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