Mozart - Symphony No. 35 "Haffner"

Growing up in Salzburg, Mozart was close childhood friends with a boy named Sigmund Haffner, despite their families being quite different in class. The Mozarts were entertainers and musicians, while the Haffner’s were some of Salzburg’s wealthiest people. In 1776, Mozart was commissioned to write a piece for the nuptials of a member of the Haffner family. The family lute enjoyed the piece, and commissioned Mozart to write a second, more elaborate piece in 1782 for the celebration of Sigmund’s elevation into the nobility. Mozart finished the score hurriedly, due to the fact that he was busy with his own wedding at the time, and set the finished product off to the Salzburgs. Mozart also sent a copy to his father, who he liked to update on his compositions from time to time. A few months later, Mozart requested that his father send the score back, as he was planning to put it on a series of concerts that he was planning. After looking over the score when he received it, Mozart wrote that he had “Forgotten every single note of it” and that it “Positively amazed” him. Mozart then edited the score, adding more woodwinds to beef up the instrumentation and removing a march section that had opened the work. Mozart premiered the symphony as we know it in March of 1783
The first movement, “Allegro con spirito”, is a fairly typical sonata-form opening movement. The biggest departure from sonata form is the lack of a repeat at the end of the exposition. In a letter to his father, Mozart stated that this movement was to be played “with fire”. The second movement, “Andante”, is a much slower movement, also sticking to typical sonata form. Rather than a full development, Mozart writes a short woodwind chorale. The third movement, “Menuetto” begins directly after the 2nd with no science (attacca). The minuet is to be played very loud, with almost all dynamic markings over Forte. The final movement, “Presto”, is a rondo that Mozart stated should be played “as fast as possible” (Of course we don’t know how fast that would have been at the time).


Sources:
http://www.laphil.com/philpedia/music/symphony-no-35-haffner-wolfgang-amadeus-mozart
http://cso.org/uploadedFiles/1_Tickets_and_Events/Program_Notes/ProgramNotes_Mozart_Symphony35.pdf
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symphony_No._35_(Mozart)