THE B.B.C. LIGHT ORCHESTRA
Conducted by VICTOR HELY-HUTCHINSON
Symphony No. 34 in C Mozart
MOZART spent his twenty-third and twenty-fourth years in his native town of Salzburg, not very happy, although he had been made warmly welcome on his return from an ill-fated journey to Paris and other centres. He was organist to the Court and the Cathedral, but found his duties irksome and uncongenial, and his salary was certainly not princely-about £40 a year, in our money. He was as active as ever in composition, and there is very little in the fine work produced in these two years which reflects the disappointments which had befallen him away from home; the two symphonies which belong to that period-this and No. 319 in Kdehel's Catalogue—are rich in those qualities of buoyant happiness which we know so well in his music. The autograph of No. 34 is dated at Salzburg, August 29, 1780, and one interesting thing about it is that it includes the first page of a Minuet, which has been ruled out after it was written. So far as we know, the Symphony was not played until the following year, and it is probably the one to which Mozart refers in a letter. saying : ' I quite forgot to tell you that the symphony had a magnificent performance, and the most complete success.' (Though he was writing in German, he used the words ' magnifique ' and ' success '). '.Thore were forty violins, the winds were all doubled, ten violas, ten double basses, eight 'cellos, and six bassons'—an impressive orchestra for those far-off days. For years he had been familiar with success of that order, though not with prosperity nor substantial rewards: he might well forget to mention a thing so usual as to be almost a matter of course.
THIS, a comparatively early work, was composed originaliy as a pianoforte duet. It has been very ably scored for orchestra by Henri Busser.
The first of the four movements is a Barcarolle, a boating tune, in which a solo flute plays the main tune at the beginning. There is a middle section in a more virile rhythm, after which, the first tune is heard again, played now by the violin.
The second movement is called ,' Procession.' Two flutes begin this, to be followed soon by the oboes and other winds until at last the whole orchestra is playing it. Hero again there is a contrasting middle section, and when the first tune returns. In the flutes as at first, the violins play the tune of the middle section as an accompaniment to it.
A Minuet follows, dainty and graceful. the tune being shared, to begin with, by violin, flute, clarinet, oboe, and English horn. The bassoon has an amusing part in the middle section, after which, we hear the first part once more.
The last movement is a lively Ballet.
The strings begin the tune, and then the winds take their place, after which the whole orchestra repeats it. A waltz breaks in, as middle section, and, when the original tune is heard at the end, we hear the tune of the waltz along with it.