logo
episode-header-image
Oct 2020
47m 43s

Mozart Symphony No. 40

JOSHUA WEILERSTEIN
About this episode

This week continues my project of reuploading seasons 1-5 in new and improved sound quality! The opening of Mozart's 40th symphony is one of the most recognizable tunes in the whole repertoire, but to this day we don't know what it is about or even why Mozart wrote it. But even though it can be frustrating to not know these answers, it's also exciting and potentially rewarding to go searching for answers on our own! Today we'll talk all about this dramatic piece, and all of its many twists and turns.

Up next
May 1
Copland Clarinet Concerto
The commission for a new Clarinet Concerto from the great American composer Aaron Copland came from a rather unlikely source: Benny Goodman, the man known as the King of Swing. Goodman was one of the most famous and important jazz musicians of all time, but in the late 1940s, swi ... Show More
48m 13s
Apr 17
Steve Reich: Different Trains
Steve Reich, the great American contemporary composer, provided this program note about his work Different Trains: “The idea for the piece came from my childhood. When I was one year old my parents separated. My singer, song-writer mother moved to Los Angeles and my attorney fath ... Show More
52m 30s
Apr 3
Best of Frenemies: Debussy and Ravel
Debussy and Ravel are often described as the prototypical musical impressionists. It is often said that the two composers are the closest equivalents to the artistic world of Monet, Renoir, Pisarro, Degas, and others. But both Ravel and Debussy (like Monet for that matter), vehem ... Show More
52m 22s
Recommended Episodes
Sep 2020
THE 5TH — MOVEMENT I, A Battle Brewing
You know Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony. You’ve heard it in films, advertisements, parodied in Saturday morning cartoons and disco-ized in Saturday Night Fever. The Fifth Symphony is a given, so much so that it blends into the background. You know this piece, but how well? Of all the ... Show More
27m 48s
Aug 2009
Mozart: Sonata in F Major K. 300k (332) - III Allegro
This is the third and final movement to Mozart's Sonata in F Major (K 300k). This has been a fun sonata to record and got me hooked on learning a few other Mozart sonatas that I will hopefully be recording and releasing in the coming months. I hope you enjoy my recording of Mozar ... Show More
7m 20s
Dec 2020
Les quatre saisons de Vivaldi
Chaque samedi, Laure Dautriche nous fait (re)découvrir un morceau qui a marqué l'histoire de la musique classique. Aujourd'hui, elle s'intéresse à l'un des tubes du répertoire du compositeur et violoniste italien Antonio Vivaldi : Les quatre saisons.  
3m 30s
May 2022
Beethoven's Silent Symphony (Replay)
History repeats itself this week with an episode from the HISTORY This Week archives: May 7, 1824. One of the great musical icons in history, Ludwig Van Beethoven, steps onto stage at the Kärntnertor Theater in Vienna. The audience is electric, buzzing with anticipation for a bra ... Show More
34m 41s
Aug 2009
Mozart: Sonata in F Major K. 300k (332) - II Adagio
This is the 2nd movement of Mozart's Sonata in F Major and is a beautiful piece. I enjoy playing this piece during the calm, quite moments of the evening or early morning hours. This recording was completed at my home on my studio upright piano. 
4m 10s
Jul 2009
Mozart: Sonata in F Major K. 300k (332) - I Allegro
This is the first movement of Mozart's Sonata K 300k. It was composed during the summer of 1778. Stay tuned for the remaining two movements, as they will be released over the next several weeks. I hope you enjoy my recording of Mozart's F Major Sonata. 
9m 40s
Jun 2024
Beethoven symphonies and 20th century politics
Synopsis No four notes in classical music are more familiar than those that open Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5. Their powerful psychological resonance has often extended beyond music into overtly political contexts. For example, on today’s date in 1941, the British Broadcasting Comp ... Show More
2 m
Sep 2020
THE 5TH — MOVEMENT III, Putting the Classism in Classical
Before Beethoven’s time, classical music culture looked and sounded quite different. When Mozart premiered his Symphony 31 in the late 1700s, it was standard for audiences to clap, cheer, and yell “da capo!” (Italian for “from the beginning!”) in the middle of a performance. Afte ... Show More
32m 22s