Mozart Symphony No 40 in G Minor
In one of his famous Essays in Musical Analysis Sir Donald Francis Tovey wrote “Perhaps the most luminous thing ever said about Mozart was the remark of Edward Fitzgerald, that “People will not believe that Mozart can be powerful, because he is so beautiful.” If these general observations can help showhis power, they will have proved more useful than any detailed analysis of the symphony from point to point. ... ” This powerful statement from such an eminent commentator aptly describes for me the reservations one should have about trying to portray in words the art of a composer such as Mozart. ... And such too is the case of the most “tragic” of Mozart’s symphonic compositions, the symphony No. 40 in G minor. In 1788 Mozart was obviously struck with a fit of compositional inspiration. ... Each is unique unto itself in tone and mood and yet each share the common bond of being filled with invention and new developments and ideas regarding form and its application to the symphony.