The four
movements are arranged in the traditional symphonic form of the
Classical era: The symphony typically has a duration of about 33 minutes.
I. Allegro vivace The opening movement is in
sonata form. Its
main theme begins with contrasting
motifs: a threefold
tutti outburst on the
fundamental tone (respectively, by an ascending motion leading in a
triplet from the
dominant tone underneath to the fundamental one), followed by a more lyrical response. : 4\f r8 \times 2/3 { d16( e fis } g4) r8 \times 2/3 { d16( e fis } | g4) r r r8 d'-.\p | d4.( c8 g'4. f!8) | a2( g4) r | \f r8 g32^"Vl. 2"( f e d c4) | r8 c'32^"Vl. 2"( bes a g f4) | r8 d''32^"Vl. 2"( c b! a g4) | } >> This exchange is heard twice and then followed by an extended series of
fanfares. What follows is a
transitional passage where the two contrasting motifs are expanded and developed. From there, the second theme group begins with a lyrical section in
G major which ends suspended on a
seventh chord and is followed by a stormy section in
C minor. Following a full stop, the
expositional coda begins which quotes Mozart's
insertion aria "Un bacio di mano", K. 541 and then ends the exposition on a series of fanfares. The
development begins with a
modulation from G major to
E major where the insertion-aria theme is then repeated and extensively developed. A false
recapitulation then occurs where the movement's opening theme returns but softly and in
F major. The first theme group's final flourishes then are extensively developed against a
chromatically falling
bass followed by a restatement of the end of the insertion aria then leading to C major for the true recapitulation. Mozart often used it; it makes a brief appearance as early as his
Symphony No. 1 in 1764. Later, he used it in the
Credo of an early
Missa Brevis in F major, the first movement of his
Symphony No. 33 and trio of the minuet of this symphony. It also appears at bar 105 in the first movement of the
Violin Sonata No. 33 where it is used as the fresh thematic material that forms the basis for the development section, making a final appearance in the movement's coda. Scholars are certain Mozart studied
Michael Haydn's
Symphony No. 28 in C major, which also has a fugato in its finale and whose coda he very closely paraphrases for his own coda. Charles Sherman speculates that Mozart also studied Michael Haydn's
Symphony No. 23 in D major because he "often requested his father
Leopold to send him the latest fugue that Haydn had written". The
Michael Haydn Symphony No. 39, written only a few weeks before Mozart's, also has a fugato in the finale, the theme of which begins with two whole notes. Sherman has pointed out other similarities between the two almost perfectly contemporaneous works. The four-note motif is also the main theme of the
contrapuntal finale of Michael's elder brother
Joseph's Symphony No. 13 in D major (1764). ==Origin of the nickname==