This paper presents a detailed, technical analysis of all four movements of Mozart’s Symphony K-550: Exposition, development, style, melody, form, phrasing. Extensive manuscript references.
First Movement: The movement is in sonata-allegro form, and characterized generally by the regular phrasing of its cut-time meter (in 2- and 4-bar groups). The exposition, development, and recapitulation sections are roughly balanced on a ratio of 4-3-5, and the textural qualities of the three sections are basically homophonic-contrapuntal-homophonic (with considerable quasi-contrapuntal decoration of the harmony). Orchestrally, the strings provide the foundation for most of the writing, although the winds are particularly important for their use in the major transitional points of the form. The beginning of the development section (ms. 102-105) and the retransition (ms. 160-166) are …