Classical Period

Haydn’s Symphony No. 60 in C Major, “Il Distratto”: Music for the Comic Stage

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Franz Joseph Haydn’s Symphony No. 60 in C Major, Il Distratto, (“The Absent-Minded Gentleman”) has been called “the funniest piece of symphonic music ever written.” (Kenneth Woods) The six-movement Symphony was conceived originally as incidental music for a 1774 German-language adaptation of Le Distrait, a farcical comedy by the French playwright, Jean François Regnard. The play centers around the buffoonish misadventures of a man who is so absent-minded that he nearly forgets …

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Mozart’s Symphony No. 36 in C Major, “Linz”: A Hurriedly Written Masterpiece

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In 1783, Mozart traveled to Salzburg with his new bride, Constanze, in an attempt to reconcile with his father, who did not approve of the marriage. On the return trip to Vienna, the couple spent three weeks in the Upper Austrian town of Linz as guests of Count Johann Thun-Hohenstein, an old friend of the Mozart family. In a letter dated October 31, Mozart wrote to his father, When we reached the …

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Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto: A Swan Song

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The Clarinet Concerto in A Major, K. 622 has been called Mozart’s swan song. His last completed work, it was first performed on October 16, 1791 in Prague, less than two months before the composer’s death at the age of 35. At the time, the clarinet was a young instrument still in development, and a newcomer to the orchestra. When the 22-year-old Mozart visited Mannheim, a progressive musical center far ahead of provincial …

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Mozart’s Kyrie in D Minor: An Enigma

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The impetus for Mozart’s Kyrie in D minor, K.341 remains a fascinating enigma. Initially, it was believed that Mozart completed this sublime choral fragment in Munich in early 1781. The occasion for which it would have been composed remains unclear. The full instrumentation (which includes two clarinets) suggests that the Kyrie may have been intended for a large-scale Mass which remained unfinished. Sketches from the composer’s final years (1787-91) show that he was …

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Mozart’s Requiem in D Minor: Mysterious and Monumental

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Mystery and intrigue have long surrounded the genesis of Mozart’s Requiem in D minor. In early July of 1791, an “unknown, gray stranger” visited the composer, bearing a commission for a Requiem from an anonymous patron. At the time, Mozart was working tirelessly to complete two operas, The Magic Flute and La clemenza di Tito. By the time he turned his attention to the Requiem the following September, his health was in terminal decline. He …

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Mozart’s “La Clemenza di Tito” Overture: Music for a Coronation

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During the final year of his life, Mozart was extraordinarily productive. In the months leading up  to his illness, and eventual death on December 5, 1791 at the age of 35, Mozart completed a series of works including the Clarinet Concerto, K. 622, a final String Quartet, K. 614, the motet Ave verum corpus, K. 618, and the operas Così fan tutte and The Magic Flute. The monumental Requiem in D minor remained unfinished until …

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Beethoven’s First Piano Concerto: An Exuberant and Daring Conception

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Beethoven was a newcomer to Vienna when, in 1795, he completed the Piano Concerto No. 1 in C Major. It is bold music which was designed to showcase the young composer’s skills as one of the preeminent virtuoso pianists of the time. Although the C major Concerto was the first to be published (in 1801), its composition was preceded by the piece we now know as Piano Concerto No. 2. While the Second Concerto …

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