A letter from Mozart to his father;
“On Tuesday, I am giving a concert in the theater here, and as I have not a single symphony with me, I am writing a new one at breakneck speed, which must be finished by that time. Well, I must close, because I really must set to work.”
It is impossible to go through musical education without hearing about the time Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart wrote an entire Symphony a day before its performance. You might have even compared the story to last minute school work done the day before submission. But, do you know the actual story behind these infamous tales?
Mozart's style of composing is notably described as ‘improvisation at the keyboard’. This style became evident in his childhood, and proved to be time-saving. He often impressed the public with his ad lib performances, and many documented their astonishment. Mozart also was gifted in that he could compose while bowling or playing billiards or even while he socialized at parties.
Now comes the question; are there really compositions that Mozart completed in a day? The most well-known name with this regard, is ‘Don Giovanni’s Overture’. According to the story, Mozart was out drinking with his friends on October 28th, 1787; the night before ‘Don Giovanni’s’ premiere. At around midnight, when Mozart went back to his room and started on the overture, his wife kept him awake with fictional stories, and within around three hours the composer was finished. On the night of the premiere, despite the copyists struggle to make sheets of music in time, they successfully finished writing the music scores for the orchestra. Legend has it, the orchestra sight read the overture so fluently and beautifully, that the audience in the Estates Theater in Prague applauded the performance enthusiastically.
^Early manuscript of ‘Don Giovanni’s Overture
Another account talks of how the composer wrote an entire symphony the morning of the concert. Mozart arrived in the city of Linz on October 30th, where he was a guest of Count von Thun. The Count suggested that he present a concert of his music, including a symphony, on November 4. Mozart wrote a letter to his father on October 31st (see above), in which we can see that Mozart had not a single composition to put forth, and hence had to compose one before the concert. Hence it is clear that Mozart completed the symphony only a handful of days before November 4th, giving the copyists hardly any time to write out the music sheets. Given Mozart’s characteristic treatment of deadlines, it’s possible that the ‘Linz Symphony’ was completed only on the day of it’s premiere.
Whether Mozart actually composed such pieces a day before their premiere is questionable though the composer is, no doubt, a prolific and influential composer, who’s improvisation and melodies carry his legacy forth.
- Don Giovanni Oveture : https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=193&v=4nMQKP2kE78&feature=emb_title
- Symphony No. 36 in C, K. 425 (Linz) : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwxNp-LzDYo
