Symphony No. 34 in C Major, K. 338

• Mozart completed this symphony in Salzburg on August 29, 1780.
• When Mozart wrote this symphony, he was employed as court and cathedral organist to the Archbishop of Salzburg. His real job was to compose church music and chamber music, not symphonies. The Archbishop eventually replaced Mozart with Michael Haydn because he got tired of Mozart’s extracurricular activities in Salzburg.

“We accordingly appoint [J.M. Haydn] as our court and cathedral organist, in the same fashion as young Mozart was obligated, with the additional stipulation that he show more diligence … and compose more often for our cathedral and chamber music.”

Archbishop Colloredo, in a 1782 document appointing Michael Haydn as his Court Organist

• This symphony has only three movements. Mozart began to draft a Minuet movement, which would have brought the work’s total movements up to four, but he abandoned the draft.¹

1. Cliff Eisen and Stanley Sadie, “Mozart, (Johann Chrysostom) Wolfgang Amadeus,” Grove Music Online (2001), accessed November 2, 2021,  https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-6002278233.