Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Jupiter Symphony – good to vacuum by

Coming up at Mainly Mozart

Part of the Frankfurt orchestra playing the Jupiter Symphony
Part of the Frankfurt orchestra playing the Jupiter Symphony

I’ve never heard Mozart’s Jupiter Symphony. Can you believe that? After all these years, it has avoided me. I’ve heard Mozart’s Haffner Symphony at least three times. I’ve heard his Symphony No 29 twice. I’ve a few other Mozart symphonies once but the Jupiter, not at all.

Past Event

Classical In Your Car: Mainly Mozart

  • Thursday, October 22, 2020, 8 p.m.
  • Del Mar Fairgrounds, 2260 Jimmy Durante Boulevard, Del Mar
  • $45 - $60

I can’t recall it being programmed in San Diego. Now, it is completely possible that the Jupiter was programmed in the past 10 years and I simply missed it. That would make more sense than for it to not be performed.

Sponsored
Sponsored

I now have my chance at Mainly Mozart’s Drive-In concert on Thursday, October 22, at the Del Mar Fairgrounds. Granted, a drive-in format isn’t ideal but I’ll take whatever I can get at this point.

I’m referring to Mozart’s Jupiter Symphony but it would be more accurate to call it his Symphony No. 41. The Jupiter moniker arrived long after Mozart’s death.

Video:

Performed by the Frankfurt Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Paavo Jarvi

Here’s the crazy thing. It’s not clear if Mozart ever heard this symphony performed live. Mozart composed his Symphonies Nos. 39, 40, and 41 during the summer of 1788. He completed No. 39 on June 26, No. 40 on July 25, and No. 41 on August 10.

This rapid succession has led some to theorize that these three symphonies are actually one meta-composition. Mozart could have been composing them for a series of concerts that never materialized.

My relationship with No. 41 started in the summer of 1990, 202 years after it was written. I had a cassette tape with No. 40 on one side and No. 41 on the other. I also had a job cleaning the Bureau of Land Management in Medford, Oregon. We called it “The BLM”.

Every weekday night I would vacuum for hours and hours and listen to that cassette tape. I must have listened to both those symphonies at least 120 times over the course of that summer. I never got tired of it.

This might not make Mozart happy but if you want to get some work done around the house, I recommend the Jupiter Symphony as a soundtrack. It is, to me, a piece of music that signifies movement and activity.

The opening chords strike with an energy that is different from but no less impressive than Beethoven’s Symphony No. 3. In fact, Mozart’s No. 41 wasn’t surpassed in terms of scale and grandeur until Beethoven’s No. 3 which came 25 years later.

Mozart’s No. 41 is the quintessential classical symphony. Haydn may have exceeded Mozart with sheer numbers. Beethoven’s Symphonies Nos 1 and 2 are substantial but the Jupiter Symphony rules them all.

The latest copy of the Reader

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Mary Catherine Swanson wants every San Diego student going to college

Where busing from Southeast San Diego to University City has led
Next Article

Mary Catherine Swanson wants every San Diego student going to college

Where busing from Southeast San Diego to University City has led
Part of the Frankfurt orchestra playing the Jupiter Symphony
Part of the Frankfurt orchestra playing the Jupiter Symphony

I’ve never heard Mozart’s Jupiter Symphony. Can you believe that? After all these years, it has avoided me. I’ve heard Mozart’s Haffner Symphony at least three times. I’ve heard his Symphony No 29 twice. I’ve a few other Mozart symphonies once but the Jupiter, not at all.

Past Event

Classical In Your Car: Mainly Mozart

  • Thursday, October 22, 2020, 8 p.m.
  • Del Mar Fairgrounds, 2260 Jimmy Durante Boulevard, Del Mar
  • $45 - $60

I can’t recall it being programmed in San Diego. Now, it is completely possible that the Jupiter was programmed in the past 10 years and I simply missed it. That would make more sense than for it to not be performed.

Sponsored
Sponsored

I now have my chance at Mainly Mozart’s Drive-In concert on Thursday, October 22, at the Del Mar Fairgrounds. Granted, a drive-in format isn’t ideal but I’ll take whatever I can get at this point.

I’m referring to Mozart’s Jupiter Symphony but it would be more accurate to call it his Symphony No. 41. The Jupiter moniker arrived long after Mozart’s death.

Video:

Performed by the Frankfurt Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Paavo Jarvi

Here’s the crazy thing. It’s not clear if Mozart ever heard this symphony performed live. Mozart composed his Symphonies Nos. 39, 40, and 41 during the summer of 1788. He completed No. 39 on June 26, No. 40 on July 25, and No. 41 on August 10.

This rapid succession has led some to theorize that these three symphonies are actually one meta-composition. Mozart could have been composing them for a series of concerts that never materialized.

My relationship with No. 41 started in the summer of 1990, 202 years after it was written. I had a cassette tape with No. 40 on one side and No. 41 on the other. I also had a job cleaning the Bureau of Land Management in Medford, Oregon. We called it “The BLM”.

Every weekday night I would vacuum for hours and hours and listen to that cassette tape. I must have listened to both those symphonies at least 120 times over the course of that summer. I never got tired of it.

This might not make Mozart happy but if you want to get some work done around the house, I recommend the Jupiter Symphony as a soundtrack. It is, to me, a piece of music that signifies movement and activity.

The opening chords strike with an energy that is different from but no less impressive than Beethoven’s Symphony No. 3. In fact, Mozart’s No. 41 wasn’t surpassed in terms of scale and grandeur until Beethoven’s No. 3 which came 25 years later.

Mozart’s No. 41 is the quintessential classical symphony. Haydn may have exceeded Mozart with sheer numbers. Beethoven’s Symphonies Nos 1 and 2 are substantial but the Jupiter Symphony rules them all.

Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Bringing Order to the Christmas Chaos

There is a sense of grandeur in Messiah that period performance mavens miss.
Next Article

Gonzo Report: Hockey Dad brings UCSD vets and Australians to the Quartyard

Bending the stage barriers in East Village
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader