Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is often considered to be one of the greatest composers who

ever lived. Coming from a family of musicians, Mozart quickly made a name for himself as he

composed his first symphonies at the ripe age of eight. Like many great composers before him,

Mozart was very quick in adapting and building upon the qualities that made his mentor’s music

popular. Johann Christian Bach, one of Mozart’s earliest mentors, became very close to the

Mozart family after meeting them in London around 1775. Whilst under the tutelage of J.C.

Bach, Mozart wrote his first symphony Symphony No.1 in E-flat Major, K.16. It has been

accepted by many musicologists that J.C. Bach heavily influenced Mozart’s earlier works. I

however, believe Bach’s Opus 3, No.1 symphony, in particular, bears a striking resemblance and

paints a clear picture of the compositional similarities between Mozart and himself. I will be

examining the compositional elements of form, style and motivic development as it pertains

to the allegro sections of both works.

Beginning with form, Mozart’s Symphony No.1 most accurately portrays a more

expansive three movement opera overture, rather than the typical four movement symphony

form associated with the late eighteenth century. Opera overtures would normally begin with the

allegro section which would contain the first musical phrases of the piece. These phrases would

be the lyrical ideas, usually two, and the transitional melodies between these ideas.1 The reason I

am calling the melodic material “phrases”, as apposed to themes, is because the term “themes” is

used to refer to the melodic phrases of the late eighteenth-century symphony form.2 The allegro

section of Mozart’s K.16 however, would be more correctly called a binary piece of music

1. Jan Larue, et al. "Symphony", Grove Music Online. Oxford University Press,
accessed September 20, 2017.

2. Larue, et al. "Symphony”.

because of the lack of a true development section. J.C. Bach uses the same type of

macrostructure to compose the allegro section Op. 3, No.1. Otherwise it would be in Sonata

form.3 The allegro section would be a fast movement that would contrast with the slower andante

section. The Opera Overture form would then conclude with a faster presto section.

Mozart followed the expanded binary form to a tee in the first movement of K.16. The

first phrase area begins at measure one and ends at measure twenty-one with the proceeding

transition spanning the next eight bars. The transition helps to modulate the piece to the dominate

which in this case is the key of B-flat Major. This is where the second phrase area begins. This

ends at the repeat at measure fifty-eight. After the repeat, the first phrase is repeated in the

dominant and eight bars later, at measure seventy, the first theme is again repeated, but now in

the relative minor of the tonic. The time spent in C minor is short lived as the expanded

transition begins eight bars later and lasts for the next twelve bars. The expanded transition

serves as a semi-development section leading to a recapitulation of the second phrase area in the

tonic key. This recap lasts until the end of the allegro section.

The beginning of Mozart’s first Symphony introduces a three-measure motif built with a

E-flat major arpeggio. This marks the start of the exposition and first phrase area of the Allegro

section. This motif is used by Mozart to help define the key, as it is repeated later in the relative

minor to signal the switch to the minor mode. This is also shown in J.C. Bach’s Op. 3, No.1

symphony as it begins with an ascending D Major scale in the first measure followed by a D

Major arpeggio in the second measure. This first melodic phrase also serves to lock down the

3. Larue, et al. "Symphony”.

key of D major. The first three measures of both pieces already show some distinct similarities in

writing style between J.C. Bach and Mozart.

For the next eight measures of K.16, Mozart lays out a series of block type chords with

every voice, but the bass, playing whole notes. The bass is playing the roots in quarter notes on

beats two, three, and four. Mozart is showing what chords will be used in the rest of the

movement in these eight measures. Bach does something related in his Op.3, No.1 Symphony

where he uses the violoncello to play scales starting on the base note of each chord. This happens

in the opening six measures with the repetition of five to one cadences which help solidify the

key. While the scales are happening in the violoncello, the oboes and the French horns are

holding out whole notes primarily on the thirds, fifths, and sevenths of the chords. The

admittance of the longer notes in the upper voices allow for the bass lines to be heard. This is a

common consequence of a thinned-out texture. The whole note pattern in the upper voices and

movement in the bass define some of the key compositional similarities between the young

Mozart and J.C. Bach.

When looking and listening to these two pieces, you can’t help but also notice the

extreme dynamic contrast between sections of main phrases, and transitional segments. Both

Mozart and J.C. Bach display this vividly within the first main phrases and the first transitional

segments of both K.16 and Op.3, No.1. In K.16, Mozart’s first three bar phrase is played at a

fortissimo which then is immediately followed by a secondary phrase containing block chords at

piano volume starting at measure four. Bach does the same thing in his first and second phrase

areas. The first phrase starts at measure one and ends at measure eleven and the second phrase
starts at measure eleven and ends at the end of measure thirty-two. This type of contrast between

extreme loud and soft volumes was very popular during the Classical Period.4

Mozart’s light and zippy melodies greatly resemble those of J.C Bach.5 In the main

melodies of Op.3 No.1, Bach commonly uses upper and lower neighbor tones to highlight the

target melody note. This is seen more often at the ends of phrases, as heard in the oboes and

violins in measures six through ten. Mozart resembles this in K.16 during the transition into and

during the second phrase area. Part of what makes both melodies “light” sounding, is how

Mozart and Bach orchestrated short notes. Instead of using staccato quarter notes, they both use

eighth notes followed by eighth rests. Refer to the sections mentioned above to see this. This way

of writing produces less constrained sound that resonates more than a staccato would.

Symphony No.1 in E-flat Major is a great example of the typical instrumentation

orchestrated in most symphonies of the late eighteenth-century. Mozart used two oboes(oboi),

two French horns(corni), two violins, a viola, and a string bass. This thin instrumentation

allowed the chords and melodic figures to be brought out, instead of getting buried within the

texture.6 We can see this same style of instrumentation in Johann Christian Bach’s Op. 3, No.1.

He also features two oboes, two French horns, two violins, a viola, and a violoncello.

Between these two pieces, we can see some similarities in how Bach and Mozart wrote

for the oboes and French horns. Beginning with oboes, both composers chose to use them as the

4. Elaine Sisman, "Variations." Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online. (Oxford University
Press).

5. Austin Bourdon, "Johann Christian Bach's influence on Mozart's developing style" (2010), 14.

6. Bourdon, "Johann Christian Bach's”, 14

melody instruments. They would normally play on top of and compliment the lines and chords

created by the strings. Similarly, the French horns were given a complimentary role to the main

melody. Bach never gave the French horns any tough leaps or fast passages. Their harmonic

rhythm was always slow, consisting of whole notes, half notes, and quarter notes. The young

Mozart wrote for the French horn in the same way, as he did not write contrapuntal lines to the

melody, but rather he used them to compliment the melody by doubling mostly the thirds and

fifths of chords in whole and half notes.

J.C. Bach and Mozart both used very active baselines within these two pieces. As

mentioned earlier, each allegro section has the bass or violoncello play up and down various

scales and modes dependent on the chord being played in the upper voices. Bach uses an

ascending D major scale and occasionally uses the mixolydian mode during the five chords.

Mozart employs similar tactics as he permutates the tonic major scale in the bass. This is

especially noticeable during the second phrase area. Both Bach and Mozart also use a one note

tremolo-like series of eighth notes in the bass to act as a pedal note which usually occurs on the

tonic and dominant of the key.

Bach’s use of form is different when comparing phrase areas and transitions. The phrases

in Op.3, No.1 were noticeably longer and more expansive when looking at the score. It is

obvious that Mozart’s musical vocabulary was much thinner than an older and more

accomplished J.C. Bach who had been writing for decades. However, we can see some aspects of

Bach’s use of form being copied by the young Mozart in K.16. Mozart’s use of the different

phrase sections, expanded transitions and recapitulation in the tonic seem to come directly from

Bach’s example in the afore mentioned symphony.

 J.C. Bach’s compositional style serves as a great example of the galant style of writing.

This style was very popular as it, “…freed composers from the contrapuntal fetters of the church

style”.7 Although the term galant, as it pertains to music, has been defined in many different

ways, it is commonly described as a style that employs simplicity within rhythms, melodic

structure and instrumentation.8 Composers who employed this technique no longer had to write

complex contrapuntal lines underneath their already complex melodies. The style was a

reactionary method that went against the common church compositional rules. We can see this

clearly within Bach’s Symphonies. As mentioned above, the thin instrumentation, digestible

melodic phrases, and simple accompaniment shown in Op.3, No. 1 defines this galant

compositional style. Mozart seems to take this popular Classical Period style to heart too, as his

first symphony vividly mirrors Bach’s interpretation of the galant style.

7. Mark Radice, "The Nature of the Style Galant: Evidence from the Repertoire." MUSICAL
QUARTERLY. 83, no. 4 (1999): 607.

8. Radice, "The Nature of the Style Galant”.