What is the longest symphony?
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The Symphony No. 3 by Gustav Mahler was written in 1896, or possibly only completed in that year, but composed between 1893 and 1896. It is his longest piece and is the longest symphony in the standard repertoire, with a typical performance lasting around 90 to 105 minutes. It was voted one of the ten greatest symphonies of all time in a survey of conductors carried out by the "BBC Music Magazine".
Symphony No. 3 (Mahler)
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The Symphony No. 1 in D minor (The Gothic) by Havergal Brian is a symphony composed between 1919 and 1927. At around one and three quarter hours, it is among the longest symphonies ever composed (with Gustav Mahler's 3rd Symphony, Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji's nine-hour 2nd Organ Symphony and Dimitrie Cuclin's unperformed No. 12) and, along with choral symphonies such as Ludwig van Beethoven's Ninth Symphony or Mahler's Eighth Symphony, it is one of a few works attempting to use the musically gigantic to address the spiritual concerns of humanity. With a key-scheme that begins in D minor and eventually closes in E major, the work is an example of progressive tonality.
Symphony No. 1 (Brian)
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The symphony is Shostakovich's longest, and one of the longest in the repertoire, with performances taking approximately one hour and fifteen minutes. The scale and scope of the work is consistent with Shostakovich's other symphonies as well as with those of composers considered to be his strongest influences, including Bruckner and Mahler.
Symphony No. 7 (Shostakovich)
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In 1793, Haydn had given his employer Prince Esterházy an elaborate musical clock, for which he wrote 12 short pieces, one of them being the basis for the third movement. This movement, a minuet, is one of Haydn's longest. The trio evokes a bungling village band, with more Haydnesque humor, similar to what Beethoven would use in the trio of his "Pastoral" Symphony. Many scholars, publishers, and musicians, not knowing Haydn's humor, would often "correct" the trio.
Symphony No. 101 (Haydn)
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The first and longest movement is a slow movement in rough sonata form. As in his Fifth Symphony, Shostakovich quotes from one of his settings of Pushkin: in the first movement, from the second of his "Op. 91: Four Monologues on Verses by Pushkin for bass and piano" (1952), entitled "What is in My Name?". This theme of personal identity is picked up again in the third and fourth movements.
Symphony No. 10 (Shostakovich)
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Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart completed his Symphony No. 41 in C major, K. 551, on 10 August 1788. The longest and last symphony that he composed, it is regarded by many critics as among the greatest symphonies in classical music.
Symphony No. 41 (Mozart)
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The symphony is his last composition preceding a nine-month stay in hospital (starting September 1970); it is also his longest symphony. There is one movement, though it divides into a number of smaller sections that follow each other with at most nominal pause but usually none. The notes to the cpo recording identify 17 such sections, partially for analysis.
Symphony No. 9 (Pettersson)
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With the Opus 42 symphonies, Widor shows his mastery and refinement of contrapuntal technique, while exploring to the fullest the capabilities of the Cavaillé-Coll organs for which these works were written. The Fifth Symphony has five movements, the last of which is the famous Toccata. The Sixth Symphony is also famous for its opening movement. The Seventh and Eighth Symphonies are the longest and least performed of Widor's Symphonies. The Seventh Symphony contains six movements, and the first version of the Eighth Symphony had seven. (Widor subsequently removed the Prélude for the 1901 edition.)
Charles-Marie Widor
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At the beginning of the 20th century, Gustav Mahler wrote long, large-scale symphonies. His Eighth Symphony, for example, was composed in 1906 and is nicknamed the "Symphony of a Thousand" because of the large number of voices required to perform the work. Additionally, his Third Symphony is one of the longest regularly performed symphonies at around 100 minutes in length for most performances. The 20th century also saw further diversification in the style and content of works that composers labeled "symphonies" (Anon. 2008). Some composers, including Dmitri Shostakovich, Sergei Rachmaninoff, and Carl Nielsen, continued to write in the traditional four-movement form, while other composers took different approaches: Jean Sibelius' "Symphony No. 7", his last, is in one movement, whereas Alan Hovhaness's Symphony No. 9, "Saint Vartan"—originally op. 80, changed to op. 180—composed in 1949–50, is in twenty-four.
Symphony
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Myaskovsky's reaction to the events of 1917–21 inspired his Symphony No. 6 (1921–1923, rev. 1947—this is the version that is almost always played or recorded) his only choral symphony and the longest of his 27 symphonies, sets a brief poem (in Russian though the score allows Latin alternatively—see the American Symphony Orchestra page below on the origins of the poem—the soul looking at the body it has abandoned.) The finale contains quite a few quotes—the Dies Irae theme, as well as French revolutionary tunes.
Nikolai Myaskovsky