Mozart's 15th Symphony in G Minor

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Mozart’s 40th Symphony in G minor Mozart’s 40th symphony in G minor is Mozart’s penultimate symphony, completed in 1788 and first performed 1789. It is written in sonata form, meaning that there are three main sections to the first movement: the exposition, the development and the recapitulation. The exposition, 100 bars long, gives the composer the opportunity to expose all his material. The first subject of the exposition begins in the tonic of G minor, and modulates to the relative major of Bb in the transition, remaining in this key for the duration of the exposition. The second section of the movement, the development, gives the composer an opportunity to experiment with the material. The piece modulates 7 times throughout the development, through a ‘cycle of 4ths’ – keys that are four notes apart. The development lasts a brief 64 bars, before the recapitulation begins in bar 164. This final section is a repeat of the music from the exposition, but in the tonic key. This allows tonal conflict created with the tension between G minor and Bb major in the exposition to be resolved. There are two main melodies in this movement: the first and second subject. The 1st subject is played by violins in octaves with quaver chords in violas in G minor, in a descending sequence. The first phrase of the melody is repeated, one note lower. The 2nd subject is played in Bb major, with much chromatic movement. IN contrast to the 1st subject, the strings and woodwind share this melody, and the semitones within give it a strong pathetique mood. Balanced phrasing, a typical classical feature, is demonstrated in both of the melodies. This ‘question and answer’ style of music consists of a 4 bar imperfect cadence, followed by a 4 bar perfect cadence, shown in the second subject, in bar 44. During the exposition the melody is played by the violins and woodwind, with
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