Episode 2 of 4

Harnoncourt's unified-work hypothesis

When: 26 June – 10 August 1788
Where: Vienna, where the three symphonies were composed
Part of: Mozart's Completion of Symphonies No. 39, 40, and 41

Nikolaus Harnoncourt argued that Mozart composed the three symphonies as a unified work, citing structural differences among the three.

Nikolaus Harnoncourt conjectured that Mozart composed the three symphonies as a unified work. He pointed to the fact that Symphony No. 40, as the middle work, has no introduction (unlike No. 39) and does not have a finale of the scale of No. 41's; No. 39 has a grand introduction in the manner of an overture but no coda, while No. 41, as the final work, has no introduction but a grand finale.

Sources

Symphony No. 40 (Mozart) Wikipedia, revision of 2026-07-27
Symphony No. 39 (Mozart) Wikipedia, revision of 2026-08-12
Symphony No. 41 (Mozart) Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-11

Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.