<P> During the 18th century, "the symphony was cultivated with extraordinary intensity". It played a role in many areas of public life, including church services, but a particularly strong area of support for symphonic performances was the aristocracy . In Vienna, perhaps the most important location in Europe for the composition of symphonies, "literally hundreds of noble families supported musical establishments, generally dividing their time between Vienna and their ancestral estate (elsewhere in the Empire)". Since the normal size of the orchestra at the time was quite small, many of these courtly establishments were capable of performing symphonies . The young Joseph Haydn, taking up his first job as a music director in 1757 for the Morzin family, found that when the Morzin household was in Vienna, his own orchestra was only part of a lively and competitive musical scene, with multiple aristocrats sponsoring concerts with their own ensembles (Carpani 1823, 66, cited in Gotwals 1968). </P> <P> LaRue, Bonds, Walsh, and Wilson trace the gradual expansion of the symphonic orchestra through the 18th century . At first, symphonies were string symphonies, written in just four parts: first violin, second violin, viola, and bass (the bass line was taken by cello (s), double bass (es) playing the part an octave below, and perhaps also a bassoon). Occasionally the early symphonists even dispensed with the viola part, thus creating three - part symphonies . A basso continuo part including a bassoon together with a harpsichord or other chording instrument was also possible . </P> <P> The first additions to this simple ensemble were a pair of horns, occasionally a pair of oboes, and then both horns and oboes together . Over the century, other instruments were added to the classical orchestra: flutes (sometimes replacing the oboes), separate parts for bassoons, clarinets, and trumpets and timpani . Works varied in their scoring concerning which of these additional instruments were to appear . The full - scale classical orchestra, deployed at the end of the century for the largest - scale symphonies, has the standard string ensemble mentioned above, pairs of winds (flutes, oboes, clarinets, bassoons), a pair of horns, and timpani . A keyboard continuo instrument (harpsichord or piano) remained an option . </P> <P> The "Italian" style of symphony, often used as overture and entr'acte in opera houses, became a standard three - movement form: a fast movement, a slow movement, and another fast movement . Over the course of the 18th century it became the custom to write four - movement symphonies, along the lines described in the next paragraph . The three - movement symphony died out slowly; about half of Haydn's first thirty symphonies are in three movements; and for the young Mozart, the three - movement symphony was the norm, perhaps under the influence of his friend Johann Christian Bach . An outstanding late example of the three - movement Classical symphony is Mozart's "Prague" Symphony, from 1787 . </P>

Who is considered the father of the symphony