Symphony
theater

Do not let its high opus numer deceive you: Beethoven's Opus 103 Octet is in fact an early score, the last he composed before leaving Bonn for Vienna in 1792. It offers us the face of a young man of twenty-two preparing to move to the musical capital... and, in the background, another face: that of an already experienced master eager for recognition. Augmented and revised, it would serve as the basis for his ambitious Opus 4 Quintet, destined to establish him as a composer.

Contemporary with the Quartets dedicated to Haydn, the Horn Concerto No. 3 belongs to the extraordinary creative years that followed Mozart's move to Vienna. Was it written, like the other concertos in the series, for the horn player Joseph Leitgeb, a close family friend since Salzburg? In truth, far superior to its predecessors both in terms of composition and virtuosity, like many works from this period, it marks Mozart's entry into a new maturity. His Symphony No. 40, his last but one  and one of the few in the minor key, is also one of his most tragic: nothing, even in the final bars, resolves the tension, calms the fever or soothes the distress. But neither is there any of the resignation to misfortune we might find in the Romantics: the courage in the face of adversity that permeates this score of unequalled emotional power hints at the victory overflowing with joy that will begin the next symphony.