Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Symphony No. 40 is in G minor.
Mozart completed the symphony in 1788 during an exceptionally productive summer. It is one of only two symphonies he wrote in a minor key, the other being Symphony No. 25 in G minor. The minor-key setting contributes to the work’s urgent and restless character.
The symphony is scored for pairs of flutes, oboes, clarinets, bassoons, horns, and strings. Unlike many later performances, Mozart’s original version did not include clarinets; he subsequently prepared a revised version adding them, and both versions are performed today.
The opening violin figure of the first movement is especially famous. The work is sometimes nicknamed the “Great G minor Symphony” to distinguish it from Symphony No. 25, but that nickname is informal rather than part of Mozart’s original title. Mozart did not assign the number 40 himself; the numbering was added by later cataloguers.