Symphony No. 40 (Mozart)

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart wrote the Symphony No. 40 in G minor, K. 550 (sometimes referred to as the “Great” G minor symphony, in contrast to the “little” G minor symphony, No. 25), along with No. 41 in C major, K. 551, in the space of a few weeks in 1788. Like No. 41, this symphony was never performed in Mozart's lifetime.

The first movement begins darkly with a pulse in the violas. This technique of “dropping” the listener immediately into the action, foregoing a formal introduction, would become a favorite technique of the Romantics. Examples of this technique used in Romantic music include the first movement of Mendelssohn’s Concerto for Violin, or the first movement of Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No. 3. The first subject then begins in the violins—a plaintive motive that sets the character of the entire work.

A remarkable portion of the work occurs in the fourth movement, at the beginning of the development section, in which every tone in the chromatic scale is played.

This work has elicited varying interpretations from different critics. Robert Schumann regarded it as possessing “Grecian lightness and grace,” while others have seen in it the character of opera buffa or some statement of tragedy or agitation.