Mozart not only had the great advantage of building on Haydn's secure foundations, but he brought to the task a genius much more supreme than his predecessor's. From his earliest composition, a minuet written when he was only five years old,[28] to the three great symphonies in G-minor, E-flat major, and C-major ("Jupiter") produced at the end of his career, a movement from the first of which we shall presently study, all his work shows a spontaneity of inspiration, a graciousness of melody, a stoutness and symmetry of musical construction, a finish of style, a depth of emotional expression, and a classical lucidity and purity, perhaps not to be found all together in the work of any other musician. Especially does he excel Haydn in profundity of feeling, versatility of resource, and a certain aristocratic distinction. All these qualities are shown in his great G-minor Symphony, one of his supreme masterpieces.
_Mozart: Symphony in G-minor, the first movement._[29]
TABULAR VIEW OF THE STRUCTURE OF THE FIRST MOVEMENT OF MOZART'S G-MINOR SYMPHONY.
--------------------+------------------------------------------+--------- Main Divisions. | Themes. |Measures. --------------------+------------------------------------------+--------- Exposition (A) | | 1-100 comprising |First theme | 1-27 |Transition, on a subsidiary theme | 28-42 |Second theme, in relative major key | 44-72 Duality of Harmony |Conclusion theme, built on first theme | 72-88 |Cadence formulas emphasizing | | the key of B-flat | 88-99 |Modulation | 100. --------------------+------------------------------------------+--------- Development Section,| | or Free Fantasia (B)| | 101-165 |Modulation continued | 101-103 |First theme in various keys | 104-115 Plurality of Harmony|First theme, alternating between bass | | and treble, with contrapuntal treatment | | of the transition theme in "diminution."| 115-134 |Cadence in dominant of original key | | emphasized | 135-138 |Rhythm of First theme variously used | 139-165 --------------------+------------------------------------------+--------- Recapitulation (A) | | 165-293 |First theme | 165-191 Unity of Harmony |Transition, on subsidiary theme | 191-225 |Second theme, in G-minor (tonic) | 227-260 |Conclusion theme, First theme | 260-275 |Cadences-formulas, emphasizing G-minor | 275-285 --------------------+------------------------------------------+--------- Coda |On First theme | 286-299 --------------------+------------------------------------------+---------