This book investigates the emergence and stylistic development of the minor-key symphony in late eighteenth-century Vienna and the Habsburg territories. Matthew Riley, a scholar of music history, examines the cultural and aesthetic conditions that fostered a specific subset of symphonic works characterized by intense pathos and nervous energy. By analyzing the output of composers such as Wagenseil, Gassmann, Ordonez, Vanhal, Haydn, and Mozart, the author constructs a framework for understanding how these minor-key compositions diverged from the prevailing major-key norms of the Classical era.

Experts in musicology recognize this text as a rigorous examination of a specific stylistic phenomenon within the Classical period. Readers frequently note the academic density of the prose and the depth of the formal analysis provided by the author.