Magnificent Counterpoint in the Finale of Mozart's Jupiter Symphony

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Richard Atkinson analyzes the magnificent counterpoint in the finale of Mozart's Jupiter Symphony, no. 41 in C major, K. 551, culminating in the coda, during which 5 of the previously introduced themes are combined at once, in five-part invertible counterpoint. This is a fair use educational commentary that uses excerpts from a recording by the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, directed by Sir Neville Marriner.
00:00 - Exposition section
06:46 - Development section
09:12 - Recapitulation section
11:54 - Coda section (with 5-part invertible counterpoint)

[@Richard.Atkinson]

Correction: an inversion is the VERTICAL reflection of the original music (for mathematics purists out there). I meant that it is reflected over the horizontal (x) axis.

[@Cat-hw1vh]

I blame Baron Von Sweiten for all of this!! ;-)

[@johnbeaton1076]

And there...quite clearly you have shown the link between mathematics and music.....beautiful!

[@PzKpfw]

As a mathematician -- don't worry 'bout it!!! beautiful video!!

[@George040270]

What is the point of all this anyway?

[@George040270]

That's fine if you want to write music like an algebraic equation.

[@DigitalCasm]

This is the only way I want to listen to classical music now. With a color coded score and you explaining wtf is going on.

[@lrx54]

😂

[@kumo-kun1831]

So true! Especially fugue or developmental section where different parts and motives collide together, visual representation can really show the voice we ignored ❤

[@octavianrofrano3351]

This is not music. This is another dimension altogether. Mr Atkinson has helped us understand better this timeless masterpiece. Thank you for your extraordinarily lucid and clear contrapuntal analysis.

[@paulburns1896]

An excellent analysis demonstrating Mozart's brilliant grasp of contrapuntal/fugal composition. If only he'd lived another 20 or 30 years!

[@john-patrickdickson9663]

The color delineation of the passages (the analysis) discussed must have taken many hours And is sensational, I have been reading scores for 60 over years, I am 89, and have never seen such a thorough job well completed. Now set to work and do the same for your new copyright printed edition of JS Bach’s 48 . !!!!!! I would love to relearn them being told with the colors what I should tell my listeners, and myself as I play. Lovely. Lovely. Have just finished Learning another 48 set by the Russian composer SHCHEDRIN , Bach would have been astonished, intrigued and disgusted at the same time.

[@qweuio]

48? You mean Well-tempered Clavier?

[@Ludwig1625]

That final part is literally like an orgasm to listen to if you keep up with all the parts and appreciate how they work together, it's like listening to the kyrie double fugue in the requiem, or Bach's art of fugue.

[@elias69420]

Hi Beethoven, how do you know what an orgasm feels like if you never had shred? Or did you masturbate?

[@DanielFahimi]

@@elias69420 What the hell is wrong with you??

[@elias69420]

@@DanielFahimi Nothing, it's just me being me

[@iguarni]

A Mankind's genius!

[@alecrechtiene558]

You mean an eargasm

[@superchaserbr]

"It is my profound conviction that Mozart is the highest, the culminating point which beauty has reached in the sphere of music. Nobody has made me cry and thrill with joy, sensing my proximity to something that we call the ideal, in the way that he has…. In Mozart I love everything because we love everything in a person whom we truly love" (Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky) I totally agree with him.

[@Awesomeknight7]

I still believe that Mozart's 41st Symphony is the single best piece of classical music ever written!! Thanks for the clarity on Mozart's amazing grasp of contrapuntal/fugal composition and magnificent counterpoint in the finale! This piece of music is simply out of this world!

[@Warstub]

It's pretty great, one of the greats, but I still consider Beethoven's 5th the greatest for the share power and form breaking he does in the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th movements. I think the 1st movement will always be a work of genius in showing how much can be wrought from just one idea, but those last two movements are amazing moments of development in classical music altogether while sustaining an amazing sense of listenable music. Overall, I feel like Beethoven's 5th is structurally so damn tight that it shows the composer at work while presenting beautiful and groundbreaking music worth listening to. But don't get me wrong, I still love Mozart the most! ❤🎵🎶😍

[@sillypuppy5940]

Every time I hear this I think "Why can't this be longer?"

[@Radian1978]

I had the pleasure of attending a live performance a few weeks back. In the last movement I was in tears, the amount of joy and internal satisfaction was hard to describe... it's as if the music connected straight to my soul. I drove home in silence as if I were coming off a high. Music really is amazing!!

[@sarahjones-jf4pr]

Radian1978 So well put ...I remember going to a beethoven performance of the concertgebouw orchestra and came out in a surreal state of floating on air, as far as the classics are concerned my adoration and appreciation has been unsurpassed to this day, I never spend a day without it at some point lighting up the bleakest of days, plus the fact I was brought up with Maestros Bernstein and Karajan so not a hope of not loving the classic repertoire! Best Wishes.

[@fe12rrps]

Your analysis reveals well how beautifully economical Mozart’s thematic development is. It’s astounding how Mozart produces such an incredible richness out of such economy of ideas.

[@timothythorne9464]

teddy toto Wow, just wow. Incredibly complex music, which is also enjoyable and emotionally satisfying! How. did. Mozart. accomplish. this?

[@Ludwig1625]

To quote Salieri: "Astounding! I mean it was actually unbelievable"

[@ursin3]

Sorry. I'm a little overwhelmed.I remember the first time I ever heard this work. I had just recently been introduced to classical music by a college roommate, who had an extensive collection of LPs to which he was willing to let me listen. I had been utterly clueless about music in general prior to meeting him. He changed my life, as I almost immediately discovered that I am one of those happy fortunate people who is capable of being enormously moved emotionally by great music. The last movement of the Jupiter simply reduced me to a tearful joyful puddle. I have known for years that magic was going on in there but I had no way to analyze it. Mr Atkinson, you just fixed that. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

[@somewhere59]

Perhaps the finnish a capella sextett "Rajaton" ("borderless") can bring you to similar emotional sensations (as they brought to me).

[@katrinat.3032]

I'm so glad when I read what classical music does to people!! It effects me so much too! It's a gift to be able to feel such wonderful feelings from classical music.

[@terrybyrne4324]

Don't worry about being overwhelmed. We all are. It's like being hit literally by a planet - the biggest planet in the solar system. Mozart was a musical colossus!

[@AlexanderMcAllister]

What a beautiful story :)

[@einarkristjansson6812]

Hello you learned people out there. I have no formal education in music, I buy records, listen and go to concerts.This finale is a revelation to me and Atkinson's analysis tells me why. Einar, Iceland

[@nikolalucic9501]

This work is a musical monument of genius and miraculous creativity for the whole human race.

[@mikahkilgore4972]

I’m speechless! My brain can barely comprehend that amount of complexity, let alone keep track of it. I’ve been underestimating Mozart for years.

[@Awesomeknight7]

Agreed! That is why I rank Mozart's Symphony #41 as the greatest symphony ever composed!

[@rodneyjones1541]

Underestimate Mozart at your peril!!!

[@andrewrayment536]

What was it Brahms said? "Among composers, Beethoven is the greatest. Mozart is in his own category." Or something to that effect.

[@meckel1271]

I have loved this symphony for years, but never have quite understood the "five themes" of the final movement.This is by far the most lucid explanation I have seen, and it will enhance my future understanding of this magnificent work. I will pass this on to my colleagues in the music department! Thank you, Mr. Atkinson!

[@josepholeary3286]

I tried to count these 5 themes for the last 55 years and now all is clear!

[@nameless5053]

@@josepholeary3286 those 5 themes are just amazing right?

[@ElSmusso]

Every time I play Mozart, or look at the scores, I lose my breath... of pure joy over life and all it’s possibilities. His music is like the filaments of a leaf, it’s life’s perfection ;)

[@DrStrangeLemon]

my God! I'm actually crying ...I knew it was a work of genius, but to be walked through it was wonderful. Thank you!!

[@jeffryphillipsburns]

I’ve long thought this the greatest symphonic movement ever written, not because of its contrapuntal complexity (as explained in this video) but because of its translucent expressive directness and apparent inevitability. This is the music of Apollo.

[@yuezhang273]

The power of this stunning ending passage just made me want to cry each time when I listened since I've heard it first time in my age of 11 years old. The music reminds me of God.

[@brianbernstein3826]

the first three themes are really just one theme though, a third interval. the first theme C D F E spans a third interval, we hear the F as a suspension. theme 2 is B A G, G F E, E D C all thirds, same with the transposed inversion Mozart uses later E F# G#, A B C, C D E). theme 3 is two third intervals E F# G, A B C. theme 4 does look like the first truly different one here, but if you look close at the two descending tetrachords, it's basically theme 2 in disguise. the fifth theme is indeed different. thank you so much for all your wonderful videos I truly enjoy them! youtube desperately needs more of this

[@replyhere590]

Brian Bernstein I like your analysis as well as Richards's. Though I cannot claim to understand all, it generally reminds me of some of that "other" Bernstein's analyses--mind-bending and intensely interesting. I grew up admiring him, even more now; he did have a fairly unique talent for adjusting the levels of his presentations, while never coming off as simplistic or condescending. Check out his 1960 video which included Glenn Gould and Igor Stravinsky, among others. Your comment about deception makes me wonder if WAM intended that as Easter eggs. I've always been told the man had a huge sense of humor. Doesn't the contemporary estimate of his IQ come in at something well over 200?

[@brianbernstein3826]

Mozart's humor pervades much of his work, and certainly his letters. As to his IQ, not really sure what tools they had to measure it back then. I certainly cannot lay claim to how Mozart approached this composition, and designing the five themes covered in the video. I can only analyze the themes and see their commonalities etc

[@Sam-tj9np]

Thirds are basically "cheating" in invertible counterpoint.... You can always double a voice by thirds (as long as another voice isn't already). The green theme is basically just the orange theme in thirds, the yellow theme is the blue theme in thirds. That's why i dont consider this to be all that impressive in terms of invertible counterpoint; that and the fact that with exception of the orange theme, the other themes are boring melodically (in both shape and interesting leaps).

[@drtmuir]

Who disliked this? Someone who dislikes Mozart? Counterpoint? Lucid musical analyses? 😂

[@JimEadon]

Salieri?

[@katrinat.3032]

@@JimEadon Haha good answer 😉

[@dbkfrogkaty1]

@@JimEadon LOL!

[@jesusmanriquezsantana1590]

It is incredible that Mozart composed his best symphony and one of the best in all history in just 16 days. A true god of music

[@Warstub]

To be fair, this whole section is a paraphrase of one of Michael Haydn's symphonies, so he did at least have a partial model to work from. 16 days is still impressive, but Mozart, like a lot of composers of his time, were used to writing music quickly and could pump out something for others to play relatively fast. I think it was Mozart's genius that made what he did write - even quickly - to be both complex in its arrangement, simple in ideas, but so enjoyable and exciting to listen to.

[@davidlecuyer1367]

Incredible! I am slowly starting to realise how great of a composer Mozart is. When I thought no composer had ever come close to match Bach's contrapuntal genius. Thank you for this wonderful analysis.

[@DeflatingAtheism]

I love the counterpoint in the double concertos... two contrapuntal lines in dialogue with each other, by turns condensing and elaborating on what the other says!

[@nameless5053]

@@DeflatingAtheism I love the part of 13:30 to the end, especially those 5 themes playing simultaneously

[@armandssurins3364]

12:35 -> 13:30 !

[@donnaterkildsen7211]

could you imagine how much more extraordinary music we would have enjoyed, had he lived longer....thank you for this analysis!

[@superchaserbr]

Mozart's early demise was arguably one of the greatest tragedies in the history of music.

[@RaymondDoerr]

Putting five themes together at once and making it easy and pleasant to listen to...Now that is mastery of the craft of writing classical music. Well done Mozart!

[@aidanchau1664]

Its the work of god

[@TheOneAndOnlyZelenkaGuru]

@@aidanchau1664 Think you misspelled Mozart there...

[@ssvemuri]

Mind blowing. The artistic technique lies in making all these transformations of themes and their inversions and yet make it appealing to the musical palette

[@draugami]

I have always enjoyed this symphony. But your analysis has made me understand its intricacies. Thank you so much.

[@lardyify]

Genius. Mozart could do anything! I can listen to that music hundreds of times and it never becomes stale. There is always a new harmony or combination of notes to delight me no matter how many times I hear it.

[@Ivan_1791]

Incredible that after around 12 years studying music and listening it everyday for hours I can't still follow all the themes of the 5 part counterpoint.

[@stevenclarke9363]

Thank you, Mr. Atkinson! I'm looking forward to watching all of your posts!

[@murrayeaston2359]

There are more ideas (not to mention expressions of transcendental feeling!) in this one movement than in most musical artists careers. Not a slight to the latter but rather appreciation of the gift that is Mozart's music. Truly awesome.

[@cubanbach]

NIRVANA, Richard, NIRVANA! I cannot thank you enough for this lucid, insightful and at once, simple analysis of my favorite Mozart Symphony's crowning movement!

[@rnnyhoff]

Another five years, for that matter another year of life for Wolfgang Amadeus, just what would he have come up with in musical composition. Thank you for a peerless analysis and description of what you aptly describe as one of the most thrilling final movements to any symphony ever conceived. BRAVO!

[@josepholeary3286]

Wonderful analysis; the contrapuntal climax in the coda is breath-taking. Mozart the symphonist went out with a bang. Lots of Bach study behind it.

[@unemployicus]

There are worlds inside of this music.

[@johnmarcanderson4216]

An otherworldly explanation and narrative of Mozart's unfathomable brilliance. I feel enlightened after watching this piece. In fact, I was compelled to watch it three times to understand it. A great sleight of hand trick or an illusion, once explained, cannot be appreciated twice. Not so with Mozart's work. You only want to keep marveling at it, to keep listening, called to it again and again.

[@politicalriff4412]

I always loved this movement. Now I know why. Thank you for enriching my appreciation of this masterpiece.

[@davidbruce7244]

As a pianist I have rediscovered Mozart. I find it just absolutely wonderful. It just sounds so effortless. I know his last piano sonata is the contrapuntal one, and perhaps his most admired, but for now I enjoy playing some of the earlier ones (K311 and 332). Thank you so much for this analysis. It is amazing how such a listenable piece is yet so complex. It also reminds me a lot of Mendelssohn, who also for me has a similarly beautiful fluid motion - perhaps it is all the semi-quaver sections in the strings that enter in stretto like ways!

[@mariaashot5648]

Thank you for your immense contribution to the preservation and deeper understanding of the absolute pinnacles of our Civilization, Richard Atkinson. I will always turn first to anything about Mozart, but of course the other great composers you consider are a delight to study, as well. Bravissimo!

[@edgardocrespo3840]

After listening to screming electric guitars and synthesized music, which I have to admit, was part of it in my youth, this is very pleasing and refreshing to the ear.

[@petercallomon9681]

unbelievable that someone under the age of 36 could conceive of putting such a complicated mathematical piece of music together like this. I have heard people poh poh mozart as being easy to play. Well, they are wrong and verge on the side of simplicity when the opposite is the case. Thanks for this analysis, made even easier to understand with your highlighting.

[@gabharri910]

I didn't know a timpani part with two notes could sound so great! Gotta love classical music. Excellent explaination!

[@ThyAxeman]

Gabriel Harrison I love how timpani and horns/trumpets play exactly the same lines in the end, giving a real sense of "epic" and "scale" to the whole orchestra. The analysis is just perfect, no other words to describe.

[@DeflatingAtheism]

Percussion was idiomatically used as an "exclamation point" in Classical music, and of course, the tympani were typically tuned to the tonic and dominant to emphasize those two most important harmonies. I believe Beethoven's 9th was the first use of percussion as "free" instruments, and of course Mahler further liberated the percussion section, and then Messiaen...

[@nmlehar]

This was so cool! Thank you so much for taking the time to share!

[@enricochestri]

Magnificent analysis of the superb architecture of a music that can only be defined as being simply divine!!! Mozart equals Bach in mastering counterpoint and fugal structure. I was really moved to the heart.

[@einarkristjansson6812]

Dear Richard, this finale is a revelation to me. I am not musically educated and you have deepened my understanding of this great work. Thank you dearly. Einar, Reykjavik Iceland.

[@fuffy442]

Fabulous work, Richard. This is the first video of yours that I've seen. I will now proceed to watch all of them!

[@emtube9298]

And now, thanks to your wonderful analysis, Haydn's remarks written to Franz Rott become much more understandable: "If only I could impress Mozart's inimitable works on the soul of every friend of music, and the souls of high personages in particular, as deeply, with the same musical understanding and with the same deep feeling, as I understand and feel them, the nations would vie with each other to possess such a jewel." Thank you for these deep insights into this divine work of art!

[@ericlindholm9482]

Fantastic work. Thanks for putting this together!

[@MMendelG]

Thank you. After having heard the 41st so many times, this adds such depth to my perception of its beauty!

[@heterosectional]

This guy is great. Love the colors to describe what's going on.

[@iama8537]

All your videos are so interesting. Thank you so much!

[@69EBubu]

Just discovered your wonderful channel which helps us listening and approaching all these masterpieces with a new ear and a new eye ! THANK YOU !

[@yaroslavv.728]

Thank you Richard! It was really insightful. Please do more videos like this

[@AndreasMartinLaute]

I'm coming back here over and over again. Thanks so much for your analysis!

[@cracknblast8247]

I love all your analysis videos. They help me a lot as someone who just got into classical music and composition a few months ago.

[@tamed4171]

I remember we watched this in our composition class in high-school to help inspire and inform us about fugue and counterpoint. At my high-school, there was another teacher who had the last name Atkinson, and she wasn't very good at her job, to the point where her students hated and mocked her. When our teacher for our class showed us this, my immature students started hollering and yelling because they saw the name "Atkinson", and it really pissed me off that they weren't paying attention, especially since I knew how genius this video was.

[@renes7677]

I always come back to rewatch some of your videos. Your analysis is great and the overall quality of your content is outstanding, man. Congratulations.

[@stpd1957]

Hi Richard. This is a highly informative and hugely enjoyable video. It helps me to understand why I LOVE this movement so much.

[@satchmo1991]

Incredible! Thank you so much for the work you put into this. This is really invaluable for a musician of any study.

[@MrDaejoiscool]

Man, oh man, that's fantastic, Richard. A tour de force on your part...

[@beckylink]

This is fantastic!!! Thank you so much for taking the time to do this video. This movement is the greatest piece of Western music of all time, for me. It sends me off to impossibly high realms. Herr Mozart, we salute you. God IN you!! For He opened the gates of Heaven on this one.

[@malbamope]

Very well done! The recording is also excellent, thank you for this wonderful resource.

[@jonathanirvin2201]

Mr. Atkinson, your analyses are marvelous! Thank you for publishing this and all of your other studies of the literature!.

[@blainesnow1476]

Hearing and now seeing the transcendent genius of Mozart in this magnificent movement while knowing the suffering he endured in the last years of his life, only brings tears - tears of deep respect and gratitude. Thank you Richard for helping make Wolfgang's genius visible.

[@branimirzivkovic8684]

Thanks for this ! I will use it in the future for sure. Great work! Thanks very much :) !!!

[@bookstuart]

Excellent work Richard. Thank you for the colour dimension to reading scores.

[@fredrodriguez3913]

That was the most enlightening exposition of this wonder of composition I’ve ever seen. Thank you!

[@dpol123]

Richard, I have watched this a number of times. your patient analysis is wonderful to behold. thanks for taking the time to reveal a little bit of what has bewitched us for so many years!

[@rizzochuenringe669]

I'm familiar with almost all the music examples you display, but I've never heared them so intensively. Thrilling!

[@CHUNGAandNANOOK]

Very good job explaining analysis and jargon. Great editing as well. Love the visual aid

[@thom6746]

This is such a magnificent piece. When I hear this, I get a feeling of transcendence and uplift. Thanks for the analysis.

[@duotonsatz]

Thanks a lot for sharing this with us! Great job! 🤩👍

[@edzielinski]

Wow - as a person just beginning music theory, but many years of appreciating classical music, this is and incredibly lucid and well presented analysis of the piece. Thank you Richard!

[@mariannagalides9878]

I thoroughly enjoyed your analysis of this masterpiece. Thank you so much, looking forward to more...

[@MW-Horn]

I'm embarrassed that I am so late to the party in discovering this channel. A wonderful and clear analysis. Well and delightfully done!

[@juanagi321]

superb masterpiece! no words...just Mozart. Thanks for the video! I really liked it!

[@googleuser1512]

Brilliant Richard, your presentation gave me a greater appreciation for this symphony, thank you.

[@rsbolin]

I have watched this many, many times. It is wonderful to see and listen to your interpretations.

[@luckystarpiano]

Thank you so much for your enormous hard work in this presentation- so incredibly enjoyable and helpful ❤️👏🏻

[@PetStuBa]

thank you for doing this, seriously !! there's so much work involved in doing this ... getting all the pictures you wish and so on... amazing , Mozart was extremely creative ...

[@rgh1986aka199]

Listening with your commentary made it very interesting and satisfying. Thank you Richard.

[@leitfie3579]

This is a very helpful and clearly explained (with the colour-coded examples onsecreen) account of a unique, overwhelmingly wonderful piece. Many thanks, Mr. Atkinson.

[@davidstein1002]

A splendid, clear and user-friendly analysis. Thank you so much for all the work you put into this - to make it so easy for the rest of us!

[@MrTrackman100]

Incomparable genius! Thanks so much for raising our level of appreciation of this masterpiece. (Mozart---Einstein?-- The greater genius?)

[@mikezinn7212]

Listened to this gem for 45 years and never realized the 5 themes or the remarkable counterpoint between them. Thank you for an added great Mozart enlightenment!

[@JaySuryavanshiMusic]

It requires a different kind of genius for composing such a masterpiece. Mozart was that genius! Loved your in-depth analysis, Richard. I can now pay attention to the small details that Mozart has written. 👌🏻👌🏻👌🏻 Thank you! 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻

[@leslieallen9140]

I am a very late blooming amateur cellist in a terrific community college orchestra, and frankly, the least skilled player in the lot. I have been a professional abstract oil painter and mentor for decades, and studied law and literary criticism along the way, always with music in my ears. This analysis was by far the best I've experienced in any of the other disciplines, and the visual presentation and calming delivery was so welcome to my senses that I finally grasped what seemed impossibly inaccessible to me, up to now. Many thanks.

[@eladpeleg745]

I like this movement so much! Mozart manages all the structural brilliance of Bach but transcends him by making it so full of excitement and emotion!

[@sallymj8957]

Wow, that was a spellbinding treat of a lesson! When you explain each part, and show the color coded part as the music plays, I can see it, and understand it to a degree I have not with other explanations. Bravo!

[@komkejdi1900]

Wow....Thanks Richard. One of my favorite piece of music ever.

[@fleursonseaux]

Excellent, clear, in-depth, stimulating work ... thank you.

[@OliKember]

Stunning and fascinating. Thanks for sharing!

[@scottalbers9314]

You are providing such a useful service! Thanks so much!

[@issipap]

great work and wonderfully presented. thank you very much, Mr Atkinson!

[@jazzjeffjazzjeff]

Thank you so much for this! The logic behind the beauty is always a wonder for the mind and the soul!

[@ramesh0785]

so impressive work. thank you very much.

[@johncook2971]

Ramesh Rai If I may join your thank you, I would like to add that people(composers ) could get all there techniques of 3 or 4 or 5 part harmonies, counterpoint overlaps correctly done but don't know if it would sound as beautiful as Mozart, J.S,Bach, and sons, Beethoven (to keep the list short) or for me as elegant as Mozart. He's been a favorite of mine since I happened on his music. thank you for posting, and Ramesh Rai, thanks for the space and uplifting Thank you of your own. all smiles

[@CharlesAustin]

An eye/ear opener.. thank you.. deeply appreciated by this Mozart fan..!!

[@DavidA-ps1qr]

A fantastic insight into how this work was constructed. Just loved how you made it so clear to understand. More, more please.

[@DavidA-ps1qr]

I come back to your analysis again and again and again. You must continue your work in other fields.

[@Szpzer]

Thanks a lot for this fantastic analysis of the Finale of my favorite Mozart symphony.

[@robinhighcock8532]

A brilliant piece of work, well done