Ron Chaplin wrote:

>I thought Mozart wrote only 41 symphonies.

Don't worry, it's a common misconception.  First, we will never know
how many exactly he wrote, because several symphonies are of doubtful
authenticity and it's extremely unlikely that we will ever solve this
problem.  Second, we don't know many might have been lost.  Third, if
Mozart extracted three or four movements from an orchestral serenade to
perform as a symphony, does it count as a separate symphony? Forth, many
of his operatic overtures were performed as symphonies, sometimes with a
new ending, sometimes withough changes.  Should they be counted among
symphonies?

"41" is the number of symphonies published in the main part of the now
obsolete 19th century complete edition of Mozart works.  Further symphonies
were published in the additional series of the same edition.  Out of those
41 three are not by Mozart, and quite a bunch may very well be not by
Mozart, either.  Furthermore, a couple of symphonies were found since the
old edition was published.

-Margaret
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