Stylistically, Karl Weigl adhered to late Romanticism, shunning the more progressive trends of his day. His Symphony No. 1, written in 1908, suggests a composer thinking of new territory and future directions; by contrast, Symphonies Nos. 4 and 6 reveal the composer's adjustment to historically distinctive periods and allow for speculation as to whether his early promise reached maturity, or developed in an entirely different manner. The background to Symphony No. 4 (1936) was the emergence of dictatorial Austro-Fascism;

Symphony No. 6 (1947) might be seen as its continuation and conclusion, following the end of Nazi terror and a war that had profound global consequences