First performance January 19, 1787 in Prague.

While in Prague in 1787 to attend a production of The Marriage of Figaro, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart introduced his first new symphony in three years. He had wanted to visit London that season, and he may have begun the symphony in anticipation of such a trip, but the journey stalled when his father refused to provide childcare. The less ambitious trip to Prague proved valuable anyway, since Mozart secured the opera commission that would result in Don Giovanni. At a time when his star-power in Vienna was waning, Mozart soaked up the adoration he received in Prague, where he purportedly said, “My Praguers understand me.”

The “Prague” Symphony in D Major is one of only three Mozart symphonies with a slow introduction. Foreshadowing similar angst in Don Giovanni, the weighty opening broods over tense music in the key of D-minor. The fast body of the movement counters with a breathless energy akin to the overture from The Marriage of Figaro, with running sixteenth-notes and surprising dynamic contrasts.

The central Andante movement colors the first theme of its sonata form with vertiginous, rising chromatic scales. Later, the development section churns this material through a wide array of keys and moods. The symphony forgoes a minuet and proceeds directly to the finale, which quotes the portion of The Marriage of Figaro where Susanna tries to rush the love-struck page, Cherubino, out the window. It is a fitting sendoff for such a drama-filled symphony, and it must have delighted those Praguers who gobbled up Figaro and all things Mozart.

Aaron Grad ©2025