Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

   Austrian composer, pianist and violinist

   born: 27 January 1756, Salzburg; died: 5 December 1791, Vienna

              Symphony No. 35 in D Major, K.385 "The Haffner"

                          Allegro con spirito

                          Andante

                          Minuetto

                          Finale: Presto

     In 1782, Mozart's father, Leopold, urged his son to dedicate a new symphony to the family of the late Burgomaster of Salzburg, Sigmund Haffner. The occasion was the elevation of Sigmund the Younger to the rank of nobleman. In accepting the impromptu challenge, Mozart adroitly chose to link some of the new symphony's melodic material to a previous serenade, K.250, which he had composed six years earlier for a Haffner family wedding. Regretfully, the Haffners would not bother to acknowledge the classy connection, no more than they or any other nobles would intervene when Mozart's life became perilously difficult just a decade later. Aristocratic society felt entitled to 'entertainment' - even by someone named Wolfgang Amadeus - who they treated as a common servant. But one may be sure that Mozart knew the score, as he often found subtle ways to satirize royal vanity, especially in his operas.

     K.385 begins with a bright exclamation which Wolfgang told his father "...must be performed with great fire." The vigorous octave leaps in the first few bars comprise the primary motif, and the fragment is employed in a variety of alterations throughout the movement, with abundant scales applied as decoration in the strings. The second movement Andante in G major reveals a lighter mood than the introspective 'cantabile' expressions which are normally found in symphonic second movements of the Classical period.

     Returning to D major, the third movement Menuetto has an entertaining demeanor - really a divertimento with an appropriate tempo in the courtly fashion. For the last movement, Mozart again borrowed from himself: this time the source was the closing aria of a character named Osmin from the opera buffa titled The Abduction from the Seraglio (Osmin was a harem-keeper and a silly, would-be paramour who got drunk toasting his own abstinence). One can imagine the mischief and delight Mozart took while patching this theme into the closing movement of the new symphony to spoof his inconsiderate patrons. And about the Finale, young Wolfgang advised that "the music of the Presto should be played as fast as possible". In fact the movement is technically very ambitious as a feisty sonata-rondo in crystal-bright D major.

     In any case, Mozart was pleased with final result of the new work, which was premiered in Vienna in March of 1783. He wrote:

   "Suffice it to say that the theater was crowded and every box was filled. What gratified me most was the presence of the Emperor, who gave me great applause. It is his usual custom to send the money to the box office before going to the theater; otherwise I might have hoped for a larger sum, because his delight was beyond all bounds."

program notes by Edward Yadzinsky