The symphony, one of the most important genres of orchestral music, has endured and evolved from its first appearance in the early 1700’s. Throughout the classical, romantic, and post-romantic eras, composers have explored and exploited the symphonic form to create some of history’s most beautiful music. In this course we will listen to and talk about symphonies by several composers including Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Mahler, and Shostakovich.