Subscription Concerts 2022-2023Program C
No. 1972 Subscription (Program C)

"Haste makes waste" meant nothing to Mozart's Symphony No. 36 thrown together within only about four days. It is a product from his prosperous Viennese period. In 1783, the composer visited his hometown of Salzburg with his new bride. The newlyweds then returned to Vienna, making a stopover in Linz (arrival on October 30th) where they knew a concert would take place on November 4th. Mozart promptly began writing a new symphony for it and met the deadline, miraculously.
Despite the tremendous velocity of the composition, No. 36 is surprisingly sophisticated and innovative. Indeed, it is the first symphony Mozart wrote an introduction for. At the beginning of the main section of the opening sonata movement, violins give the first theme consisting of two whole notes followed by a few frisky short notes. The graceful slow movement in 6/8 meter with dotted rhythm evokes the siciliano, an Italian rustic dance. The next movement is a courtly minuet dance having a rural trio (central) section for oboe and bassoon. The last sonata movement is breathtaking. At a great rate, the light-hearted first theme introduced softly by strings and the fluent second theme urge this sparkling finale towards the end suggesting to us a happy denouement of the composer's operas.

As with The Linz Symphony, The Scottish of Mendelssohn was also a child of travel, but the gestation took over ten years since the conception. It is rare for the German composer known to be a rapid writer. The story goes back to the spring of 1829 when he, then twenty years old, set off on his first visit to England. He was welcomed by Londoners as a composer, conductor and soloist giving piano concerts and conducting his own orchestral works, after which he enjoyed his summer vacation touring Scotland.
Having a gift for painting, he sketched diversified scenery in his journal during this journey. Scotland's nature stimulated his musical talent too, so he would compose the concert overture The Hebrides soon in 1830. During the trip, he wrote to his family enclosing the opening bars of "my Scottish Symphony" (his own words) he conceived while visiting the Holyrood Palace in Edinburgh where Queen Mary lived. According to the letter, the ruins of the chapel beside it inspired the young man, and this musical embryo would give its first cry in 1842 as the introduction of his Scottish Symphony, the last work he completed in the genre. It was premiered the same year in Leipzig and dedicated to Queen Victoria of Great Britain and Ireland.
All the four movements are in sonata form and are continuously performed without pause. The pensive melody heard during the overcast introduction is associated with several important elements of the whole symphony (such as the first themes of the opening and second movements, the second theme of the final movement), which was progressive at the time. The first theme of the scherzo-like second movement particularly deserves special attention, as this merry tune sung by the clarinet is written in a pentatonic (five-note) scale with lively dotted rhythm reminding us of Scottish folksongs. The intense final movement in 4/4 meter has an unexpected A-major coda in 6/8 with the new melodic idea which is also derived from the introduction's theme. That’s how the composer rounds off the organic structure of this masterly symphony.