Mozart

Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 5 in A Major, “Turkish”: Isabelle Faust, Bernard Haitink and the Boston Symphony Orchestra

by

For Mozart, a virtuoso keyboardist from the age of 5, the violin was a second instrument. Following his teenage years, Mozart largely abandoned performing publicly on the violin to focus on the piano. He composed his 21 mature piano concertos from age 20 to the final year of his life. Still, by all accounts, Mozart played the violin exceptionally well. In 1756, the year of Mozart’s birth, his father Leopold published a …

Read more

Mozart’s “Don Giovanni” Overture: Tragedy and Comedy

by

As the story goes, Mozart wrote the Overture to Don Giovanni the night before the opera’s Prague premiere on October 29, 1787. “Don’t worry, it’s all up here,” the composer insisted, pointing to his head. Mozart’s wife, Constanze, provided punch and kept him company while he worked through the night. The manuscript was finished at 7:00 AM, and was rushed to copyists. With the ink barely dry, the musicians of the orchestra reportedly …

Read more

Remembering Felicity Lott

by

English soprano Felicity Lott passed away on May 15 following a battle with cancer. She was 79. Born in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, Lott began singing lessons at age 12. While studying at the Royal Academy of Music she met pianist Graham Johnson who would become her lifelong accompanist. Her operatic debut came with the English National Opera in 1975 when she sang the role of Pamina in Mozart’s The Magic Flute. Appearances at …

Read more

Mozart’s “The Impresario” Overture: Comedy with Music

by

In January of 1786, Mozart was hard at work on The Marriage of Figaro when he received an attractive imperial commission. Emperor Joseph II was hosting visiting nobility at Vienna’s Schönbrunn Palace. The festivities included a duel between two competing forms of opera. At one end of the room was Mozart’s Der Schauspieldirektor, K. 486 (“The Impresario”), representing German singspiel. At the other end, Antonio Salieri represented Italian opera buffa with Prima la …

Read more

Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 9 in E-flat Major, “Jeunehomme”: Dramatic Surprises

by

Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 9 in E-flat Major, K. 271 is revolutionary music filled with dramatic surprises. It has been called “one of the greatest wonders of the world” (Alfred Brendel), “perhaps the first unequivocal masterpiece of the classical style” (Charles Rosen), “Mozart’s Eroica” (Alfred Einstein), and the concerto in which “Mozart, so to speak, became Mozart” (Michael Steinberg). The 21-year-old Mozart composed this music in January of 1777, months before he …

Read more

Mozart’s Horn Concerto No. 4 in E-flat Major: Music Born of Friendship

by

In his catalogue, Mozart referred to the Horn Concerto No. 4 in E-flat Major, K. 495 as “a hunting horn concerto for Leutgeb.” (“Ein Waldhorn Konzert für den Leutgeb”). Joseph Leutgeb (1732-1811) was Austria’s preeminent horn player. While employed as a court musician in Salzburg, he had known Mozart as a child. Later in Vienna, the two became close friends. Composed in 1786, the Concerto is filled with warmth and good humor. …

Read more

Remembering Helmuth Rilling

by

Helmuth Rilling, an acclaimed German choral conductor and influential interpreter of Bach, passed away last Wednesday, February 11. He was 92. Rilling founded numerous ensembles including the Gächinger Kantorei (1954), the Bach-Collegium Stuttgart (1965), the Oregon Bach Festival (1970), and the Internationale Bachakademie Stuttgart (1981). He served as professor of choral conducting at the Frankfurt Musikhochschule from 1965 to 1989 and led the Frankfurter Kantorei from 1969 to 1982. “Music has to …

Read more