a symphony must be like the world wrote Gustaf Marla it must contain everything the Rolls-Royce of musical concert forms any compose in the last 300 years worth is salt has aspired to write a symphony you might even say the symphony has shown the orchestra how to speak in crude terms a symphony is a generic form of Music where all the orchestra plays together as opposed to a concerto which foregrounds an instrument or a group of instruments against the rest of the orchestra the word itself derives from two ancient Greek words together and sound the symphony had rather humble origins in the early 18th century Stars The Classical period was a short string three movement piece sometimes used as interludes the hugely popular Opera Joseph stamets who ran the fabled Mannheim Orchestra extended the form adding an extra movement and the wind section to the genre [Applause] water which sets the scene for Hayden Mozart to expand the scope and size of what would come to be known as a symphony orchestra in concert Halls across Europe this new form of concentrated orchestral action was a real hit for concert games London paid hiding huge piles of cash to come to England's capital with more Symphonies he ended up staying four years and adding his final eight to a total of 104. foreign to stand on these giant shoulders was Beethoven who dominated the form Beethoven Symphonies are Mighty even his humble First Symphony is longer than most of Haydn's however Beethoven does wait till he's 29 before writing that First Symphony aware no doubt keenly of hiding the Mozart's Legacy over the former [Music] behaven's third symphony's larger still considerably larger and is appropriately maintained his nickname of eroica the heroic Symphony by now Beethoven is articulating political and philosophical Insight that makes the music feel important rather than just being sugar candy for our ears the symphony articulated that importance and meaning when Beethoven writes the sixth Symphony he describes an entire Adventure in the country and adds a fifth movement it's interesting that this is the period of class of Music where the least Symphonies were written overall and that's because Beethoven was writing his and no one else dared to by the time of his Ninth Symphony the form has grown more gigantic still with a huge Orchestra and a unique closing Coral finale yeah Symphonies really had become the big beast numbers in the console Hall the PC generally finished your concert with it gave full voice to the full Orchestra with more individual purpose and get from a concerto where the soloists and Orchestra often act as foils Symphonies almost always longer than concertos with more movements your classic symphony is made up of four movements the first usually in Sonata form more about that in my Sonata home video is usually the longest most concentrated movement the one with the real hero theme in it medium to fast tempo sometimes with a slow introduction the second movement is usually slow a pace for more tranquil Reflections and a clear mood pivot from the first contrast is again provided by a third movement normally in minuet dance form amended by Beethoven via Hayden to a skirt so which means literally a joke so faster than the slow movement more playful but not too fast so as to maintain contrast with our final section coming at you at the fastest Tempo this is the place to really thrill the audience the movement in Rondo form that keeps coming around redelivering its main theme like the chorus of a pop song which perhaps helps our flagging ears to send us home on a high [Music] Symphony maintain its popularity right through the 19th century with Schubert Schumann Mendelson Brahms Dvorak Tchaikovsky all composing many of their greatest works in the form with Marla adding his eighth symphony symphony of a thousand remember his obtaining everything quote [Music] by now the performance could number in the hundreds and works could contain five or more movements composers like sansons at an organ but then back in the day Haydn had a piano at the end of his 98th that's the great thing about a powerful generic form like the symphony it structures guide you and yet give you the opportunity to try different things all the time structure and variation Symphonies popularity maintained right into the 20th century with Russians like prokofiev and Shostakovich writing some of their own and the Century's greatest works in the form shosting over to seventh the Leningrad manages to express the desperate state of his hometown and the entire Russian Nation Under threat of annihilation from Nazi attack at the same time it also manages to critique Russian communist Society [Music] as if Symphony could express almost anything communism a walk in the countryside the siege of Leningrad was as if the symphony could contain the world [Music]