Jupiter Symphony

The names of Mozart’s compositions are frequently followed by “K.” or “KV” and a number. K stands for “Köchel,” the name of the scholar who catalogued the composer’s work. In the early 1850s he undertook the formidable task of identifying, cataloguing, and arranging chronologically all of Mozart’s authentic works. Although largely correct, Köchel’s chronology has been updated over the years, most recently in the 2024 edition of the Köchel catalogue. 

Köchel lived in Salzburg for several years and was a member of the Mozarteum’s board of directors from 1854 onward. Around this time, he began work on his catalogue of Mozart’s compositions, which was published in 1862. In 1875 Köchel donated this page from his manuscript of the catalogue to the Mozarteum. Here we see Köchel’s handwritten entry for Mozart’s “Jupiter” Symphony, K. 551. In his notes, he calls this work “the greatest and highest of Mozart’s symphonies.” He took this characterization from the Mozart biography by Otto Jahn, published in 1856, with whom Köchel worked closely.