Talk:Symphony No. 31 (Mozart)

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What version gets performed? edit

Latest comment: 14 years ago3 comments2 people in discussion

User Labyrinthia corrected the specification of the slow movement to 6/8 time. Then DavidRF took it back to 3/4.

Looking at the NMA edition (on line), I can see that the 6/8 slow movement was written by Mozart first (end of May/early June 1778). Then, when he decided it had not been well received, he wrote the the 3/4 version (mid June to early July 1778).

So perhaps we should list both in the listing of movements?

Also, I have a question for fellow editors: the slow movement that matches what I remember hearing is the 6/8 one -- the first one Mozart wrote. Is it the standard practice to perform the symphony with this movement, or do some conductors select the 3/4 one instead?

Thanks, Opus33 (talk) 04:26, 11 January 2010 (UTC)Reply

There is information in the composition section to which mentions the original version. Also there is a sentence below the movement list which mentions the original movement. I set the "main" one to 3/4 and added a "6/8" to the text in the composition list to clarify that the time signature there. My source (A. P. Brown Symphonic Repertoire) lists the 6/8 version as an "Andantino" rather than an "Andante" so I felt the need to sync up the correct tempo with the time sig, though it apppears that NMA lists them both as Andante's so that distinction is not as clear as I thought yesterday.

I agree that the original movement gets a bit lost in the narrative. We spell out the existence of alternative movements more explicitly in other places. As to which is most commonly performed/recorded, I'm not sure. The narrative culled from Deutsch, 1965, implies the new one was more successful but that's just one opinion. I know that Mackerras provides both which means if I'm not careful I usually hear both. (I, IIa, IIb, III).DavidRF (talk) 15:40, 11 January 2010 (UTC)Reply

At home with my books now. Brown goes off on the two second movements quite a bit. It has always been thought that the 6/8 movement was first and the 3/4 movement was added later because that's what Mozart states in one of his letters. But Tyson claims the reverse may be true due to analyses of the autographs. Brown doesn't go far as to say that Tyson *is* right, just that he could be. Anyways, there's much contrast between the two movements in scoring, style (polonaise vs pastoral). We could flesh out more detail here.DavidRF (talk) 04:00, 12 January 2010 (UTC)Reply

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