Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Symphony No. 36 in C major K. 425

On their way to Salzburg, Constanze and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart made a stopover in Linz in the fall of 1783. The stay was productive: the 13-voice, four-movement Linz Symphony was created. To compose it, write it down in score, have it copied in parts, have doublets of the string parts made thereof and rehearse it as planned within only five days, however, demanded the utmost not only of the composer, but also of the copyists and musicians.

Perhaps this explains the complicated source situation: The Linz Symphony is the only authentic symphony by Mozart since 1771 whose autograph has been lost. For this reason, the edition relies on various copies of parts, the source value of which Henrik Wiese reports on in detail. He takes into account and compares numerous sources, including for the first time a set of parts with autograph entries which can be found in the Landesarchiv in Graz. Wiese also transparently traces the tradition of different readings in the critical report. With this edition, the editor succeeds in the balancing act between a scholarly, critical Urtext edition and a consistent musical text that is optimized for today’s orchestral practice.