THE WIRELESS SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
(Leader, S. KNEALE KELLEY )
Conducted by OSKAR FRIED
Overture, ' The Caliph of Baghdad ' Boieldieu
ONE of the most amazing feats in Mozart's wonderful career of less than thirty-six years, was the production within six weeks of three great Symphonies, each one of them a masterpiece. And things about him were anything but encouraging for the conception of fine music. He had succeeded Gluck as Master of the Imperial Music (Kapellmeister), but the salary had been cut down by more than half, und Mozart was really hard put to it to find the wherewithal for his household's daily needs. The Emperor (that Joseph II, whom schoolboys remember for his exceptionally fine teeth and his partiality for boiled bacon) kept Mozart chiefly employed in furnishing dance music for the Court Balls. It was an age when Vienna thought of little else but dancing, and the Palace rooms were thronged night after night-it would be nearer the mark to sny morning after morning, as seven o'clock was the usual hour for the balls to end.
But the conditions about him apparently had very little influence on Mozart's creative gifts, and there is much in all these three symphonies that suggests the best of good spirits. Hints of unhappiness are there, too, certainly, but the futility of trying to say what music 'means' in terms of words, could hardly be better illustrated than by quoting two comments by different people on this very Symphony. One says, ' Love and melancholy are breathed forth in purest spirit tones .... the night blots out the last purple rays of day, and we extend our arms to the beings who summon us as they move with the spheres in the eternal circles of the solemn dance.' The other view is that the Symphony ' is clearly dedicated to mirth, and if we may regard it as an expression of Mozart's personal mood, then the time of its composition was a very happy one.'
There are four movements, the first begin. ning with a slow Introduction before the main quick movement .begins. The slow movement has two themes, one a very simple, cheerful melody, and the other, somewhat contrasted in mood, in the minor. Minuet and Trio are short and full of Mozart's happy grace, and the last movement is instinct with good-humoured mirth.