Mozart - Composers - Classic FM Classic FM Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791) Biography Johannes Chrystostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart (1756–1791) was arguably the most gifted musician in the history of classical music. His inspiration is often described as 'divine', but he worked assiduously, not only to become the great composer he was, but also a conductor, virtuoso pianist, organist and violinist. Mozart's music embraces opera, symphony, concerto, chamber, choral, instrumental and vocal music, revealing an astonishing number of imperishable masterpieces. Mozart was born in Salzburg, in 1756. Mozart's father, Leopold, was an ambitious composer and violinist. Though he was and still is considered a genius, he was also tactless, arrogant and had a scatological sense of humour. Mozart composed his first opera, Apollo et Hyacinthus when he was only 11. A year later the Emperor Joseph II commissioned him to write La finta semplice.

In August 1782 he married Constanze Weber. The Mozarts' marriage seemed to be a happy one. Constanze was easy-going, free-spending and usually pregnant. Only two of their six children survived. Post-marriage, some of Mozart's best started to appear -the Haffner and Linz symphonies and five string quartets, for example. Between 1784 and 1786, he composed nine piano concertos and three of these concurrently with The Marriage of Figaro. The year 1787 saw the premiere of Mozart's second opera, Don Giovanni. Mozart had a great run of successes in his final years - Eine Kleine Nachtmusik and the Clarinet Quintet in A, three of his 41 symphonies; Cosí fan Tutte, three piano trios, the Coronation piano concerto, two piano sonatas and three string quartets. His health began to fail and his work rate slowed in 1790. He got better, though, and in 1791 alone composed the most famous The Magic Flute, the Requiem (unfinished), and the Clarinet Concerto.

Mozart did not live long enough to complete his Requiem. He died in Vienna, in 1791, before his 36th birthday. Wolfgang Amadeus MOZART - musical works of Mozart Andante in C, K. 1a Allegro in C, K. 1b Allegro in F, K. 1c Minuet in F, K. 1d Minuet in G, K. 1e Minuet in C, K. 1f Minuet in F, K. 2 Allegro in B-flat, K. 3 Minuet in F, K. 4 Minuet in F, K. 5 Allegro in C, K. 5a Andante in B-flat, K. 5b Piano Sonata No. 1 in C major, K. 279 (Munich, Summer 1774) Piano Sonata No. 2 in F major, K. 280 (Munich, Summer 1774) Piano Sonata No. 3 in B-flat major, K. 281 (Munich, Summer 1774) Piano Sonata No. 4 in E-flat major, K.

282 (Munich, Summer 1774) Piano Sonata No. 5 in G major, K. 283 (Munich, Summer 1774) Piano Sonata No. 6 in D major, K. 284 (Munich, Feb-Mar 1775) Piano Sonata No. 7 in C major, K. 309 (Mannheim, Nov. 8 1777) Piano Sonata No. 8 in A minor, K. 310 (Paris, Summer 1778, some catalogues have the a minor and D Major reversed) Piano Sonata No. 9 in D major, K. 311 (Mannheim, Nov 1777. some catalogues have the a minor and D Major reversed) Piano Sonata No. 10 in C major, K. 330 (Summer 1778) Piano Sonata No. 11 "Turkish" in A major, K. 331 (Summer 1778) Piano Sonata No. 12 in F major, K. 332 (Summer 1778) Piano Sonata No. 13 in B-flat major, K.

333 (Summer 1778) Piano Sonata No. 14 in C minor, K. 457 (Vienna, Oct. 14, 1784,) Piano Sonata No. 15 in F Major, K. 533/494 (Vienna, Jan. 3, 1788) Piano Sonata No. 16 in C Major, K. 545 (so-called facile or semplice sonata; Vienna, Jun. 26, 1788) Piano Sonata No. 17 in B-flat Major, K. 570 (Vienna, February, 1789) Piano Sonata No. 18 in D Major K. 576 (Vienna, July 1789) Fantasy No. 1 with Fugue in C major, K. 394 (Vienna, 1782) Fantasy No. 2 in C minor, K. 396 (Vienna, 1782) Fantasy No. 3 in D minor, K. 397 (Vienna, 1782) Fantasy No. 4 in C minor, K.

475 (Vienna, May 20, 1785) Rondo No. 1 in D major, K. 485 Rondo No. 2 in F major, K. 494 (finale to K.533 above initially published alone) Rondo No. 3 in A minor, K. 511 Adagio for Piano in B minor, K. 540 (Vienna, 1788) Allegro and Rondo for piano in F Major, K. 547a (Vienna, Summer 1788) (adapted from K. 547 and K. 545) Sonata for Keyboard Four-hands in C major, K. 19d (London, May 1765) Sonata for Keyboard Four-hands in D major, K. 381 / 123a Sonata for Keyboard Four-hands in B flat major, K. 358 / 186c Sonata for Keyboard Four-hands in F major, K. 497 Sonata for Keyboard Four-hands in C major, K. 521 Sonata for Keyboard Four-hands in G major, K.

357 (incompleted) Sonata for Two Pianos in D Major, K. 448 / 375a Fugue for Two Pianos in C minor, K. 426 He also wrote for piano and violin (16 complete sonatas, plus several fragments and two variation sets), where - mainly in the more mature years - the piano does not play just a support to the other solo instrument, but builds a dialogue with it. Violin Sonata No. 1 in C major, K. 6 Violin Sonata No. 2 in D major, K. 7 Violin Sonata No. 3 in B flat major, K. 8 Violin Sonata No. 4 in G major, K. 9 Violin Sonata No. 5 in B flat major, K. 10 Violin Sonata No. 6 in G major, K. 11 Violin Sonata No. 7 in A major, K. 12 Violin Sonata No. 8 in F major, K. 13 Violin Sonata No. 9 in C major, K. 14 Violin Sonata No. 10 in B flat major, K. 15 Violin Sonata No. 11 in E flat major, K.

26 Violin Sonata No. 12 in G major, K. 27 Violin Sonata No. 13 in C major, K. 28 Violin Sonata No. 14 in D major, K. 29 Violin Sonata No. 15 in F major, K. 30 Violin Sonata No. 16 in B flat major, K. 31 Violin Sonata No. 17 in C major, K. 296 Violin Sonata No. 18 in G major, K. 301 Violin Sonata No. 19 in E flat major, K. 302 Violin Sonata No. 20 in C major, K. 303 Violin Sonata No. 21 in E minor, K. 304 Violin Sonata No. 22 in A major, K. 305 Violin Sonata No. 23 in D major, K. 306 Violin Sonata No. 24 in F major, K. 376 Violin Sonata No. 25 in F major, K. 377 Violin Sonata No. 26 in B flat major, K. 378 Violin Sonata No. 27 in G major, K.

379 Violin Sonata No. 28 in E flat major, K. 380 Violin Sonata No. 29 in A major, K. 402 (completed by M. Stadler) Violin Sonata No. 32 in B flat major, K. 454 Violin Sonata No. 33 in E flat major, K. 481 Violin Sonata No. 35 in A major, K. 526 Violin Sonata No. 36 in F major, K. 547 Variations in G major, K. 359, "La bergere Celimene" 6 Variations in G minor on Helas, j'ai perdu mon amant, K. 360 Duo for Violin & Viola in G major, K. 423 Duo for Violin & Viola in B flat major, K. 424 Trio for Violin, Viola & Cello in E flat major, K. 563 (1788) Trio for 2 Violins & Cello in B flat major, K. 266 Preludes and Fugues for Violin, Viola & Cello, K.

404a Quartetti Milanesi, K. 80 and K. 155-160 (1770-1773) This cycle, in three movements, is interesting as far as these works can be considered precursors of the later - more complete - string quartets. String Quartet No. 1 in G major, K. 80/73f (1770) String Quartet No. 2 in D major, K. 155/134a (1772) String Quartet No. 3 in G major, K. 156/134b (1772) String Quartet No. 4 in C major, K. 157 (1772-3) String Quartet No. 5 in F major, K. 158 (1772-3) String Quartet No. 6 in B-flat major, K. 159 (1773) String Quartet No. 7 in E-flat major, K. 160/159a (1773) Vienna Quartets, K.

168-173 (1773) + Much more stylistically developed. In Vienna Mozart is believed to have heard the op. 17 and op. 20 quartets of Joseph Haydn, and had received from them a deep impression. Even if Mozart tries in these works to emulate the older musician, he still cannot reach Haydn's heights in the most difficult of all the musical genres. String Quartet No. 8 in F major, K. 168 (1773) String Quartet No. 9 in A major, K. 169 (1773) String Quartet No. 10 in C major, K. 170 (1773) String Quartet No. 11 in E-flat major, K. 171 (1773) String Quartet No. 12 in B-flat major, K. 172 (1773) String Quartet No. 13 in D minor, K. 173 (1773) Haydn Quartets K.

387, 421, 428, 458, 464, 465, Opus 10 (1782–1785) Mozart returned to the quartet in the early 1780s after he had moved to Vienna, met Haydn in person, and developed a friendship with the older composer. Haydn had just published his set of six quartets Opus 33, which are thought to have been a stimulus to Mozart in returning to the genre. These quartets are often regarded as among the pinnacles of the genre. String Quartet No. 14 in G major, ("Spring") K. 387 (1782) String Quartet No. 15 in D minor, K. 421/417b (1783) String Quartet No. 16 in E-flat major, K. 428/421b (1783) String Quartet No. 17 in B-flat major ("Hunt"), K. 458 (1784) String Quartet No. 18 in A major, K.

464 (1785) String Quartet No. 19 in C major ("Dissonance"), K. 465 (1785) String Quartet No. 20 in D major ("Hoffmeister"), K. 499 (1786) This work was published by (dedicated to?) Franz Anton Hoffmeister, as well as the Prussian Quartets. Mozart's last three quartets, dedicated to the King of Prussia Friedrich Wilhelm II, are noted for the cantabile character of the parts for cello (the instrument played by the king himself), the sweetness of sounds and the equilibrium among the different instruments. Prussian Quartets K. 575, 589, 590 (1789-1790) String Quartet No. 21 in D major, K. 575 (1789) String Quartet No. 22 in B-flat major, K. 589 (1790) String Quartet No. 23 in F major, K. 590 (1790) The string quintets (K.

174, 406, 515, 516, 593, 614), for two violins, two violas and cello. Charles Rosen wrote that "by general consent, Mozart's greatest achievement in chamber music is the group of string quintets with two violas."[1]. String Quintet in B flat major, K. 174 String Quintet in C major, K. 515 String Quintet in G minor, K. 516 String Quintet in C minor, K. 406 (516b) This is a transcription for string quintet of the earlier Serenade for wind octet in C minor (K. 388). String Quintet in D major, K. 593 String Quintet in E flat major, K. 614 Piano Trio in B flat, K. 254 Piano Trio in G, K. 496 Piano Trio in B flat, K. 502 Piano Trio in E, K. 542 Piano Trio in C, K. 548 Piano Trio in G, K.

564 Flute Quartets (flute, violin, viola, cello) K. 285, 285a, 285b, 298 (1777–1778) Oboe Quartet in F, K. 370 Horn Quintet In E Flat, K. 407 Quintet for piano and winds (oboe, clarinet, horn, bassoon) K. 452 (1784) Piano Quartets K. 478 (1785) and K. 493 (1786) Trio for Clarinet, Viola and Piano in E flat major, K. 498 "Kegelstatt" (1786) Clarinet Quintet in A major, K. 581 (1789) The production for instrumental ensembles includes several Divertimenti, Notturni, Serenades, Cassations, Marches, and Dances, besides, of course, the Symphonies. Mozart's production for orchestra is written for string ensembles (like the early Divertimenti K.

136–138), as well as for wind instruments ensembles and the varied combinations of string and wind. Mozart left a huge production of dances for orchestra, including the genres of Minuetto (more than 100), Contredanse and Allemande (or Teitsch, or Laendler). In his production of minuets, Mozart generally followed Haydn's example, preferring the slow character of the dance. Allemandes (56 between 1787 and 1791) were written mainly for public balls in Vienna. In the Contredanse production, also written mainly in Vienna, some examples of program music are found, like Il Temporale K. 535, La Bataille K. 600, Canarino K. 602, etc. Serenade No. 1 in D major, K. 100 Serenade No. 3 ("Antretter") in D major, K. 185 Serenade No. 4 ("Colleredo") in D major, K. 203 Serenade No. 5 in D major, K. 204 Serenade No.

6 ("Serenata Notturna") in D major, K. 239 Serenade No. 7 ("Haffner") in D major, K. 250 Serenade No. 9 ("Posthorn") in D major, K. 320 Serenade No. 10 for winds (Serenade for Thirteen Wind Instruments or "Gran Partita") in B flat major, K. 361 Serenade No. 11 for winds in E flat major, K. 375 Serenade No. 12 for winds in C minor, K. 388 Serenade No. 13, "Eine kleine Nachtmusik" for String Quartet & Bass in G major, K. 525 Gallimathias Musicum (Quodlibet), K. 32 (1766) Cassation in G, K. 63 (1769) Cassation in B flat, K. 99 (1769) Divertimento in E flat, K. 113 (1771) Divertimento in D, K. 131 (1772) Divertimenti, K.

136-138 (1772) Although sometimes described as string quartets, they are almost certainly for strings with double bass and are like Sinfonias in the Italian style. Divertimento in D, K. 205 (1773) Divertimento in F "Lodron", K. 247 (1776) Divertimento in D, K. 251 (1776) Notturno in D for Four Orchestras, K. 286 (1776-77) Divertimento in B flat "Lodron", K. 287 (1777) Divertimento in D, K. 334 (1779-80) Divertimento for two horns and strings, A Musical Joke, (Ein Musikalischer Spaß,) K. 522 Mozart's sacred music is mainly vocal, though also instrumental examples exist, like the Sonate da Chiesa for 2 violins, double bass and organ, composed between 1767 and 1780.

Mozart's sacred music presents a rich stylistic mosaic: Gregorian choral elements meet rigorous counterpoint, and even operatic elements can sometimes emerge. Stylistic unity and consistency is present over all his sacred music work. We include in this genre, for their liturgical character, also the compositions written for the Masonic Lodge, like The Cantata Laut Verkunde unsre Freude K623 and the Maurerische Trauermusik (Masonic Funeral Music) K477. Mass No. 1 ("Missa brevis") in G major, K. 49 Mass No. 2 ("Missa brevis") in D minor, K. 65 Mass No. 3 in C major (Dominicusmesse), K. 66 Mass No. 4 ("Missa solemnis") in C minor, K. 139 Mass No. 5 ("Missa brevis") in G major, K. 140 Mass No. 6 ("Missa brevis") in F major, K. 192 Mass No. 7 in C major (Missa in honorem Sanctissimae Trinitatis), K. 167 Mass No.

8 ("Missa brevis") in D major, K. 194 Mass No. 9 ("Missa brevis") in C major (Spatzenmesse), K. 220 Mass No. 10 ("Missa brevis") in C major ("Credo" Mass), K. 257 Mass No. 11 in C major (Spaurmesse or Piccolomissa), K. 258 Mass No. 12 ("Missa brevis") in C major ("Organ Solo"), K. 259 Mass No. 13 ("Missa longa") in C major, K. 262 Mass No. 14 ("Missa brevis") in B flat major, K. 275 Mass No. 15 in C major ("Coronation"), K. 317 Mass No. 16 ("Missa solemnis") in C major (Missa aulica), K. 337 Mass No. 17 in C minor ("Great"), K. 427 Requiem Mass in D minor, K. 626 (completed by Franz Xaver Süssmayr after Mozart's death) Exsultate, jubilate, K.

165 Ave verum corpus, K. 618 Te Deum, K. 141 Regina Coeli for soprano, chorus and orchestra, K. 108 Regina Coeli for soprano, chorus and orchestra, K. 127 Regina Coeli for soloists, chorus and orchestra, K. 276 Die Schuldigkeit des ersten Gebotes, K. 35 (1767) Apollo et Hyacinthus, K. 38 (1767) In 1767 Mozart composed his first opera, if one may thus call the scholastic musical drama Apollo et Hyacinthus. Bastien und Bastienne, K. 50=46b (1768) With respect to that first attempt, Bastien et Bastienne generates a definitely different result. The young musician is already able to dominate texts and his music emanates pastoral joy and spontaneous fascination. La finta semplice, K. 51 (1768) La finta semplice can be considered Mozart's first - only partially achieved - approach to the Opera buffa genre. Mitridate, re di Ponto, K.

87 (1770) Then, the first Italian operas were composed, upon assignments received in Milan and Salzburg: Mitridate, re di Ponto, Ascanio in Alba, Il sogno di Scipione, and Lucio Silla. In all of these works, Mozart still shows some awkwardness while moving in the traditional opera seria frame. The librettos are often dramatically weak and improbable. Nevertheless, one can find in these works some unambiguously Mozartian distinguishing marks, though the weight, substance and formal perfection of the older Mozart are still lacking. Ascanio in Alba, K. 111 (1771) Betulia Liberata, an oratorio, K. 118=74c (1771) On the subject of Judith and Holofernes. Il sogno di Scipione, K. 126 (1772) Lucio Silla, K. 135 (1772) Thamos, König in Ägypten (1773, 1775) La finta giardiniera, K.

196 (1774-5) With La finta giardiniera, Mozart comes back to the opera buffa, outranging all previous models of that genre. The libretto is still weak, but characters are not schematic anymore and become real individuals, with music definitely contributing to their definition. Il re pastore, K. 208 (1775) Zaide, K. 344 (1779) Idomeneo, K. 366 (1781) Die Entführung aus dem Serail, K. 384 (1782) After many years from his debut in the German music drama (Singspiel), Mozart came back to this genre with Die Entführung aus dem Serail and, finally, with Die Zauberflöte. L'oca del Cairo, K. 422 (1783) Lo sposo deluso, K. 430 Der Schauspieldirektor, K. 486 (1786) Le nozze di Figaro, K.

492 (1786) Le nozze di Figaro, the first of the three great operatic works, all belonging to the opera buffa genre (though the Don Giovanni obviously involves tragic elements), that Mozart composed with libretto by Lorenzo da Ponte. Le nozze di Figaro was taken from the comedy Le mariage de Figaro by Pierre Beaumarchais, a work that was hardly accepted - and performed - in France, due to its denunciation contents against the flaws of the higher dominating classes (Clergy and Aristocracy), opposed to the healthy activism of the Third Estate. In Austria, too, Mozart's opera met the opposition of the imperial court, though it should be said that Da Ponte had purged the most shocking aspects from the original text. Actually, the opera was executed during the Spring of 1786 at the Vienna Burgtheater, with enormous success. Don Giovanni, K. 527 (1787) The trilogy of Da Ponte librettos continued with Don Giovanni and Così fan tutte, both dealing - but in highly different ways - with the subject of love between men and women. Così fan tutte, K.

588 (1789) Die Zauberflöte, K. 620 (1791) Die Zauberflöte has been criticized for the absurdities of its libretto (by Emanuel Schikaneder), that was probably rehandled several times. It also achieved scarce success at its first performance. Nevertheless its music proposes elements of great brightness and spirituality, with the composition of sacred and profane love in unique delight. This work was also influenced by Freemasonry. La clemenza di Tito, K. 621 (1791) Bardengesang auf Gibraltar: O Calpe! Dir donnert's am Fusse (song fragment) Leck mich im Arsch K. 231 (1782) Die Zufriedenheit K. 367a (1781) Why did Beethoven write so few symphonies compared to Mozart? - Quora Quora Music Why did Beethoven write so few symphonies compared to Mozart? My personal impression is that writing music, whilst great and of equal quality to Mozart, didn't come easy with Beethoven. Or was it that Beethoven had a perfectionist personality?

Or am I simply writing a unfair question..? [image via BEETHOVEN vs MOZART - d_laurentis ] [...] writing music, whilst great and of equal quality to Mozart, didn't come easy with Beethoven. I understand what you are getting at here, however, I feel a bit uncomfortable making extrapolations based on perceived ease or difficulty. This topic could very well wonder (as it has in the past) into a discussion of "raw talent" * . A common such notion is: Mozart was a more naturally gifted composer, effortlessly conjuring up "perfect" pieces. On the other hand, Beethoven only achieved greatness in laboring endlessly through revisions to arrive at perfection. It is my belief that no one except Mozart and Beethoven would know in an absolute sense how their compositional struggles compare. With writing music, much of the process is completely internalized, existing only in the minds of these two men with no outward documentation. So what exists externally that can we examine to perhaps gain a deeper understanding? Well, for the sake of this question I will focus on the rate of production, and the differing roles of the symphony as a genre.

Rate of Production An easy answer to why Beethoven wrote so few symphonies compared to Mozart would be that Beethoven wrote fewer works in nearly every form than Mozart. Symphonies: 41 ** (Mozart) / 9 (Beethoven) Operas: 22 (Mozart) / 1 (Beethoven) Masses: 15 *** (Mozart) / 2 (Beethoven) Concerti for Piano & Orch.: 27 (Mozart) / ~5 **** (Beethoven) Concerti for Violin & Orch.: 5 (Mozart) / 1 (Beethoven) String Quartets: 23 (Mozart) / 16 (Beethoven) Piano Sonatas: 18 (Mozart) / 32 (Beethoven) Though neither composer would land on the list I made for Who are/were the great composers who composed relatively little music? , if we compute the rate of composing symphonies the difference between Mozart's pace and Beethoven's becomes even more profound. Mozart Symphony No. 1 in E flat major, K. 16, was written in 1764. Symphony No.

41 in C major, K. 551, on 10 August 1788. 41 symphonies / 24 years = 1.70833333333 symphonies per year Beethoven Op. 21: Symphony No. 1 in CMaj (composed 1799–1800, premièred 1800) Op. 125: Symphony No. 9 in Dm (composed 1817–24, premièred 1824) 9 symphonies / 25 years = 0.36 symphonies per year To be fair, I find Mozart's rate of nearly 2 symphonies a year to be insane, especially when you take into account all of the other operas, concerti, masses, and so on he also wrote per year. As far as I can tell, during his peak, few composers in Western music have ever been as prolific as Mozart.

This begs the question not why Beethoven wrote so few symphonies compared to Mozart, but rather, why was Mozart so freakishly productive in writing symphonies compared to the rest of humanity? Usually folks will be quick to point out that Mozart composed the bulk of his oeuvre existing in the long established Classical Era, while Beethoven is considered a transitional figure whose musical innovations are largely credited as the birth of the Romantic Era. In short, this may be analogous to the difference between learning how to speak fluently in a preexisting language, and inventing your own language that is so rigorous and clever that the rest of the world wants to learn it too. Native speakers often achieve the former naturally by childhood, whereas the latter is rarely attempted by anyone (let alone achieved). Also please note: For early works by both composers an important issue to consider is attribution. Tallies provided by various sources are going to differ because there are ongoing debates regarding exactly who composed certain childhood works. Thus, it is possible that Mozart's total is wrongly inflated. However, even if all the works in question turn out to be another composer's, Mozart would still have several times as many confirmed symphonies as Beethoven.

The Changing Role of the Symphony As Quora User outlined in his answer, during Mozart's time the symphony was not yet the massive undertaking it would later come to represent. The function of a symphony within a concert program was often that of a lite interlude between other more "serious" and substantial forms. This is why Haydn was able to pen over a hundred symphonies. The form was clear, as was the expected function of each movement. After Beethoven showed the world the large scale possibilities that the symphony could have most composers followed suit, re-calibrating their ambitions for the form. The notion of trying to compose 41 symphonies in the course of one's career is so unrealistic that I have never heard of a major composer after Mozart even attempting to do so. Conversely, writing 9 symphonies in a lifetime has become a goal for several big name composers throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. In fact, it has even spawned the well known Curse of the ninth .

Written Dec 24, 2014 While it is true that Beethoven's process of composition was in some ways more pensive and laborious than Mozart's, and that Beethoven was not as fast or quantitatively prolific as his Viennese predecessors, the only reason that Beethoven completed merely nine symphonies as opposed to Mozart's forty-one and Haydn's one hundred four of them is simply that Beethoven's symphonies are much longer, less formulaic on the whole, and in general musically richer than most of those of the elder composers. Beethoven wrote fewer symphonies mainly because the average Beethoven symphony is a much "bigger deal," so to speak, than the average Mozart or Haydn symphony. To be fair to the others, Beethoven's expansive and altogether more serious conception of the genre did not emerge from a vacuum. Consider that Haydn composed forty symphonies between 1757 - 1767, but less than twenty between 1785 - 1795; Mozart had finished his first thirty symphonies by the age of nineteen (!) but took a further thirteen years or so to complete the last eleven.

There are several factors as to why this is the case, but the biggest is that these composers were becoming more ambitious and adventurous with regard to the structure and content of the symphony, and thus the composition of a symphony became rather a bigger project than it once had been. When Beethoven came to establish himself in Vienna, he made a concentrated effort to adopt the Viennese style but without simply rehashing what the city's greats had already done. He saw himself as saddling up and sallying forth from where Haydn and Mozart had come to rest; Beethoven's Symphony No. 1 in C (1801), was, for him, a matter of picking up where Mozart's Symphony No. 41 in C ("Jupiter") had left off more than a decade prior. The symphony had become a grand, very public, almost ideological sort of statement, and Beethoven viewed his symphonic output as the primary vehicle for his legacy.

Not only is the music material and process in the Beethoven symphonies more finely wrought and less formulaic than was typical of the genre -- his orchestration is significantly more colorful and varied as well, with much greater independence in the woodwinds, for example, and more imaginative and unusual effects of texture. (Thanks for the A2A!) Great review by Andrew Watts ! For the anecdote, the most prolific classical composer of all time was Georg Philipp Telemann: 'Most Prolific' Composer: It's Not Bach While many would say that J.S. Bach is the greatest prolific composer, Bach’s contemporary, Georg Philipp Telemann, is credited by the Guiness Book of World Records as the most prolific, having written over 3,000 compositions, including 1,000 church cantatas, as well as numerous other instrumental works. However, Bach still has him bested in one prolific area: he had 22 children!" > 'Most Prolific' Composer: It's Not Bach There is also an amazing statistic method which, while necessarily approximative (depending on the execution speed), gives a pretty good idea of the amount of music actually composed.

Instead of quantity of opuses, this method counts hours of music. So, according to this system, Mozart is credited with 202 hours of music composed, Beethoven 120: TOP TEN MOST PROLIFIC COMPOSERS ranked by hours of music composed, based on a survey conducted by _Classical Music_. Source: Russell Ash, _The Top Ten of Everything 2000_ (NY: DK [Dorling Kindersley] Publishing, 1999), p. 163. > Amazon.com: Customer Discussions: Most prolific composer? I find such a method interesting. Adapted to literature, one should count the number of pages written by an author rather than the number of volumes. A novelist having written 1 book of 500 pages has produced more than an author having written 3 books of 120 pages. Even more precise would be the amount of words, since the number of pages is highly variable (page size, layout, font size). Nice! Written Feb 20, 2015 As I understand the question, it is /Why/, and assumes that Mozart did compose many more symphonies than Beethoven.

At least in the meaning of the word symphony that it has today, the assumption is not true. I would say that Mozart wrote 5 or 6 symphonies, and toward the end of his life. So the answer to "why." The numbering system for Mozart's symphonies is after-the-fact. I have the feeling that in sifting through the manuscripts, there was some attribution to the symphony column when what was before the reviewers was closer to being an orchestral divertimento. I upvoted another answer that pointed out that Mozart did not write all that many "good" symphonies, in fact, we would not know of them at all had they been written by someone else. I like a lot of Mozart's music; a symphonist was not main axe as a composer.

Question: How many symphonies did Mozart compose?
Answer: 41