Eighteenth-Century Traditional and Mozart's "Jupiter" Symphony K.551

Abstract

Although the "Jupiter" Symphony has been the subject of much analytical commentary, little attention has been paid to placing the work within the context of Mozart's times and the heritage of earlier 18th-century practices on which it draws. Filling this lacuna involves the consideration of myriad factors, including Mozart's exposure to the music of J. S. and C. P. E. Bach, Joseph Haydn, Michael Haydn, Carlo d'Ordonez, Antonio Salieri, and others; his knowledge of Killian Rheinhardt's Rubriche Generali; his exposure to the Viennese C major trumpet-symphony tradition; and the possible effect of the Turkish War under way in 1788 on the Charakter of K.543, 550, and 551 both in terms of their individual movements and the cycle as a whole. In this larger context, K.543 is the most normal work of the series; K.550, in minor, is dominated by music of mourning; and K.551 is both an elevated and celebratory symphony most appropriate for a victory after battle. Given the C major trumpet-symphony tradition of the first movement of K.551, the elevated nature of the slow second movement's French sarabande, the mixture of idioms of the minuet, and the fugal finale, Mozart fulfills in K.551 every Viennese celebratory requirement.