Symphony No. 39 (Michael Haydn) 41 in C major (also written in 1788). The last movement is a vigorous fugato, something else this work has in common with Mozart's Symphony No. 41 and Haydn's own Symphony No. 28 in C major which Mozart certainly studied. Unlike the "Jupiter" Symphony, in this symphony the fugal theme is at its first instance accompanied by its usual countersubject: Robbins Landon speculates that Mozart also studied Haydn's No. 39 before writing his No. 41, since he "often requested his father Leopold to send him the latest fugue that Haydn had written." (Robbins Landon, 1967) Whether Mozart knew Haydn's later
Symphony No. 41 (Mozart) possessed to the same degree with himself, of concealing that science, and making it the vehicle for music as pleasing as it is learned. Nowhere has he achieved more." Of the piece as a whole, he wrote that "It is the greatest orchestral work of the world which preceded the French Revolution." The four-note theme is a common plainchant motif which can be traced back at least as far as Josquin des Prez's "Missa Pange lingua" from the 16th century. It was very popular with Mozart. It makes a brief appearance as early as his Symphony No. 1 in 1764.