Essay on Symphony no. 40 by Mozart and Piano Sonanta no. 8 by Beethoven

Symphony no. 40 in G minor, K. 550, first movement by Mozart

In the examination of Symphony no. 40 in G minor, K. 550, first movement by Mozart, the different movements that Mozart employed when doing the symphony creates mixed emotions but the dominating one is the emotion of inspiration. In the first movement, molto allegro, Mozart creates and emotion of unique feeling of urgency and anxiety and is specific as the first motive. The emotion of inspiration in the first movement of the symphony is evident in the use of plaintive sighs and the graceful thoughts that runs through ones minds as they listen to the symphony. In this manner, I felt like bursting in jubilation and celebrations. As I continued listening to the symphony, I realized a change in my emotions at the second movement adante. My emotion in the second movement changed to be calm as, the graceful thoughts disappeared and the tone changed swiftly, the relaxation that I felt were the result of a feeling and the thought of a quiet and moonlight evening that the movement created.

More progressively in the symphony, into the symphony, my emotion changed as the movement changed to Minuet and Trio creating a feeling of aggression and sweet moments in an alternating manner throughout the third movement. I got a mixed feeling of emotions in the third movement thereby leaving me in a state of quagmire having to change between different feelings as the symphony progressed. Finally, the symphony ended with an emotion similar to the first one in the allegro assai movement where I felt both happy and dark at the same time. Additionally, the emotion in this last movement is again twisted thereby creating a feeling of inspiration in me.

The mood that Mozart is trying to project is both somber and happy as he changes through different moods in the symphony.

The mood that the symphony puts in me is a happy mood as the first and the last movements creates a joyful feeling.

Piano Sonanta no. 8, op. 13 (Pathetique), first movement by Beethoven

In the examination of the second symphony Piano Sonanta no. 8, op. 13 (Pathetique), first movement by Beethoven, it apparent that the conspicuous emotion brought about throughout the symphony is a surprise emotion as there are continuous changes throughout. The symphony begins with sonata-allegro form of movement which lacks a slow introduction and an interaction of two themes. Of the two themes, the second theme tends to be easy to recognize with its unique key and a unison passage making it to be foreboding. The second movement is minuet and trio, there is realized a great change as there is the use of gentle triple meter whose form is easily predictable. There is an interchange of the minuet and trio and consequent repeats making it challenging to get the sequence of the movement. Following the second movement proves to be quite challenging and complicated as the length of the repeated subsections differ.

Moreover, the third movement is made up of both themes and variations where the theme is made of a slow duple meter of the length of sixteen measures long which have long internal repeats similar to the minuets. In this manner, it is factual that variations in the symphony create a surprise emotion. Unless an outline is given, there is the challenge of tracking the variations and relating the same to the original theme.

The mood that the composer is trying to bring about is uncertain mood as witnessed in the inconsistencies in the styles used. In a similar manner, the symphony puts me through uncertain mood because I have the challenge of guessing the proceeding movements, themes and variations.