Page 47 - SRMF 2024 Season Program Book

fewer opportunities for musicians, which meant Mozart’s Where this symphony truly shines is the final movement
income quickly dried up. - ebullient music surrounds a simple four note motive
In spite of the financial difficulties, most of what is consid- throughout. Virtuosic runs abound in the strings and winds,
ered Mozart’s finest work came out of this period of his life: all rooted in the opening motive. Mozart maintains a sense
the six string quartets dedicated to Haydn, The Marriage of of drama throughout this movement via a mix of harmonic
Figaro, Don Giovanni, Cosi fan tutte, and of course, his three muscle and motivic development. It is quite a triumph of
final symphonies (Nos. 39, 40, and 41). Mozart churned out musical craft, but Mozart saves the best for last - a five-part
all three of these symphonies in a matter of nine weeks - fugato closes out the work, with ceaseless rhythmic vitality
that’s an average of five days and some change for each of that harkens back to Bach’s fugues, while the heightened
the twelve movements he composed, without considering drama looks forward to the later symphonic innovations of
he was writing other works, teaching, tending his family, Beethoven.
and moving to a cheaper apartment outside Vienna. To say
this was an impressive feat is a major understatement!
The nickname for this symphony came from either
Johann Peter Salomon - the impresario and violinist who
brought Haydn to London - or Johann Baptist Cramer, a
pianist and music publisher. Both of these men were Ger-
mans who moved to Great Britain and played an outsized
role in shaping musical culture on the British Isles. Both
accounts of these men dubbing the symphony “Jupiter” re-
volve around the opening gesture of the work, with its fast
tempo and opening notes that sound like the god Jupiter
throwing thunderbolts into the clouds. This Allegro vivace
movement looks ahead to Beethoven, with its economy
of musical materials, well written counterpoint, and clever
orchestration. Mozart also shows his penchant for con-
trast in his themes, and even within individual themes, as
evidenced by the first theme in the sonata form.
The second movement bears some resemblance to a
sarabande, one of many musical artifacts that show Bach’s
influence on Mozart’s later works (Mozart began a thorough
study of Bach’s work around 1782). Muted violins introduce
the theme for this sonata form movement, and though the
rhythmic character and contrapuntal techniques here feel a
bit Baroque, the harmony is decidedly Mozartian.
The Menuetto also points toward Beethoven’s eventual
replacement of this form with a Scherzo. Haydn had begun
to replace minuets with scherzos as the third movement
in four movement structures in his op. 33 quartets, which
heavily influenced Mozart. Though the intensity of Bee-
thoven’s scherzos isn’t present here, the wit is, as Mozart
begins to eschew the stately nature of the minuet for
something more humorous.

All program notes are © Mark J. Knippel, 2024
Mark J. Knippel (b. 1983) is a composer, producer, educator,
new music advocate, and entrepreneur in the arts. An
Oregonian if there ever was one, he holds degrees from
Southern Oregon University (BA) and the University of Oregon
(MMus) in Music Composition. His music explores people's
relationship with technology and the natural world, though
rarely both simultaneously. He teaches bass guitar, trumpet,
and composition in a private studio in Sisters, Oregon, and is
co-founder of GriffinFly Productions, a music production and
consulting company dedicated to fostering creativity in the
everyday life of artists and organizations alike.

SUNRIVER MUSIC FESTIVAL 541.593.1084 2024 - 47