Mozart's name is reputable among the top level of composers to ever emerge from Western Music. If not recognized more for what intellect and development went into his works, it is perhaps the volume of work he created for his short lifespan of 35 years.

For Mozart and the Symphony, it began in 1765 when he was eight years old with his Symphony No.1 in E-flat Major, KV. 16. At this time in his life he was already notable in Europe as a wunderkind performer, in that he had shown dominating skills on the keyboard, but had composed little music.

1. Molto Allegro


The Symphony was written during his family's stay in Chelsea, London, where he was performing. The work shows the influence of several composers, including his father Leopold Mozart and the sons of Johann Sebastian Bach, especially Johann Christian Bach, an important early symphonist working in London whom Mozart had met during his time there.

2. Andante


The Symphony was still a young form of music beginning to mature when the First Symphony was written. It is written for two oboes, two horns and strings. It is laid out in a three-movement, quick-slow-quick form, reflecting the genre's origins in the Italian overture, and typical of the early Classical symphony.

3. Presto

The presto is perhaps, Mozart's shortest known for orchestra

The first movement of the symphony is a quick piece in something like the usual sonata form, though there is little development section to speak of. The second movement is slower, in C minor, with an almost constant accompaniment of sixteenth note triplets. The third is fast and lively, making great play of contrasts between quiet and loud passages, and parts played only by the violins and parts played by the entire orchestra.

The Symphony was a building block for Mozart. Like the ones we used to make three letter words out of in our youth (at least I did), the First Symphony contributed remarkable progress into Mozart's compositional career. It could be said that Mozart was still learning the basics of music, as his father pointed out that young Wolfgang used three parallel fifths in this symphony.

The videos feature a group known as The English Concert directed by Trevor Pinock.