Performing Mozart’s Symphony 37 in G Major, K. 444
The most important thing to say about Mozart’s Symphony 37 is that it is not, in fact, by Mozart. Apparently, Mozart wrote a 20-bar slow introduction to the first movement of Michael Haydn’s Symphony 25 and was subsequently given credit for having written the whole thing. It was not until the first decade of the 20th Century that M. Haydn received due credit for having composed this three-movement work. Since there is no shortage of masterful symphonies by Mozart from this period of his life (#35 “Haffner”, #36 “Linz”, #38 “Prague”, #39 in E-flat, #50 in G minor, #51 “Jupiter”), Symphony 37 in G is now performed somewhat seldom.
If you examine a score of this symphony (the version from the Mozart Werke (publ. 1880-82) is available in an affordable Dover reprint), you might think that this will be quite a short blog article, since there is no bassoon part at all. Bear with me, though, as I explain how I understand this.
In the middle and late 18th Century, it was quite common to find little wind bands made up of two oboes, two horns, and two bassoons. This pre-existant ensemble was integrated into the string group to form the nucleus of the Classical orchestra. I like to say that this sextet of wind instruments “rode the same bus to work every day”. For this reason, when I see a Classical score with written out oboe and horn parts in pairs, I generally try to add bassoon to the Cello/Bass part, since I know the players would have been available at the performance. Some conductors are agreeable to this adjustment, while others are less so. Since the modern bassoon has good carrying power compared to its Classical counterpart, one bassoon doubling the bass line is usually sufficient for modern performance.
When I saw that Mozart Symphony 37 was programmed for our community orchestra this winter, I went to IMSLP and downloaded a cello/bass part. As is my custom, I went through the part with the score and marked in some bassoon tacets where the oboes and horns were both silent, generally just a few bars at time. In two measures near the end of the third (final) movement, Mozart writes divisi for the celli versus the bassi. I made a note in my part to double the bass part, since that was a better rhythmic match to the texture in the winds. It should be noted that modern editors of Classical-era music seldom are so particular about when the bassoon should double the cellos. Generally speaking, we either find scores where the bassoon is omitted throughout (as done in the Mozart Werke) or scores where the bass line is doubled throughout. I prefer a more nuanced approach. The Mozart NMA edition, by the way, generally includes mention of the bassoon doubling the bass lines in works like this, sometimes in a footnote. Since Mozart didn’t write the 37th symphony, there is no full edition of this work in the NMA.
The second movement of this symphony drew my attention, since the first 32 measures call for flute solo in place of the oboe part. One of the Mozart Violin Concertos does something similar, where the oboes play in the outer movements, but flutes are substituted in the slow movement. In the Classical era, the players would have simply “doubled”, playing both instruments; in modern performance, the flautists are asked to sit quietly during the outer movements, while the oboists must tacet during the slow movement. In reviewing the parts available for download from IMSLP, the flute is neglected in the B&H set; it is available as a separate download, though, if you want to help out your flute-playing friend.
I found several recordings of this piece on YouTube. The first one I listened to matched my Dover score exactly: no bassoons. The second one (a historical-instrument performance) had bassoon doubling the celli. Imagine my surprise when they reached measure 32 of the slow movement and the bassoonist began playing an obbligato solo over the accompanying strings! This solo continued all the way to measure 59, and in the following eight bars, the bassoon doubled the melody in the violins before rejoining the cello line in measure 67. This was a revelation! When I went back to the first recording and listened again to this section, it seems clear that we only hear the accompanimental part and that the solo is missing.
Remember, this section of the symphony is by Michael Haydn. The bassoon obligato that he wrote was omitted by the editors of the Mozart Werke edition for reasons not given. After having searched for a downloadable copy of this movement that included the bassoon (and not finding one), I decided to write it down from what I heard being played. A PDF copy of that effort is available from my web site. If anyone has access to the Michael Haydn version, please feel free to provide corrections, since I may not have transcribed everything correctly.
I would like to point out that I have made a number of assertions in the foregoing material that I have not backed up or footnoted in any way. Please accept these matters as my opinion. If you have strong feelings or bibliographic references that you would like to share, please include them in the comments. If you get a chance to perform the bassoon obligato, please post a comment so that I know where and when the part has proved useful.