Mozart: Symphony No. 19 in E flat, K. 132

Introduction

Symphony No. 19 in E flat major, K. 132, is a symphony composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in July, 1772.

This symphony was written in Salzburg in 1772. Here Mozart makes one of his great leaps to a higher plateau of compositional skill and imagination. In a move which is unusual for him, Mozart requires that one of the French horns in the orchestra play the "alto high" register instrument. This give the movement a bright, festive quality and gives the first horn player fits. This movement is comic and bustling in tone, in contrast to the Andante slow movement, which is in a stately cantabile mood. The minuet is unusually contrapuntal, employing various canonic devices. The finale is remarkably lyrical. In Mozart's manuscript the fourth movement is followed by a movement in an "Andantino grazioso" tempo. This is taken by scholars to represent an alternative slow movement, so conductors get to choose which one of the slow movements he will use. This alternate movement is briefer and simpler than the standard one. The standard version of the symphony is about 17 minutes long, and with the other finale takes 15 minutes.

Structure

The symphony has the scoring of two oboes, four horns (two of them uniquely written in "E flat alto"), and strings.

There are four movements:

1. Allegro, ⁴₄
2. Andante, ³₈
3. Menuetto — Trio, ³₄
4. Allegro, ²₂

The first movement opens with a motif that Mozart would later use at the beginning of his twenty-second piano concerto in the same key. The exposition is brief and there is no repeat. The development focuses on new material.

There is also an alternative slow movement, marked Andantino grazioso. The tempo marks in the first, second and fourth movements were written in the hand of Leopold Mozart.

The finale is a French rondo in seven-part form (ABACADA). Each part of the rondo is repeated except for the final A.