Symphony (Overture) No.32 in G major (K.318) (Full Score)

Mozart Symphony (Overture) No.32 in G major (K.318) (Full Score)

In January 1779, at his father’s urgent request, Mozart returned from Paris to Salzburg.  Since May 1774 he had written nothing in the symphonic genre apart from the Symphony in D major K.297 the so-called “Paris Symphony” intended for the Concert spirituel in Paris.  The first symphony to appear after this long hiatus was the G major Symphony K.318 dated 26 April 1779 in Salzburg (the autograph manuscript is located in the New York Public Library).

In its three-movement design, expanded orchestration and compositional devices the work is thoroughly reminiscent of its Parisian predecessor, but its overlapping movements recall earlier pieces such as the Symphony K.184 of 1773 or the type of overture familiar to the Paris Opéra Comique and cultivated in particular by Grétry.  Mozart may have chosen this hybrid form of “overture-symphony” deliberately to mark his recent Salzburg début.  This offered him certain obvious advantages: he could draw on earlier material, albeit basically only as regards form; he could incorporate the new techniques of timbre and orchestration which he had learned above all in Mannheim and Paris; he could easily dispense with a minuet, thereby conforming to Salzburg custom; and finally he could oblige the Archbishop, who apparently had no particular fondness for symphonies.  On the other hand, the possibility cannot be entirely discounted that this work is an overture in the strict sense of the term and was written for a specific occasion; indeed, its formal design would tend to confirm this assumption.

- Urtext of the New Mozart Edition

- Full score and performance material (BA5351) and study score format 22.5 x 16.5cm (TP177) available for sale