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Program Archive
The Amazin' Mozarts
August 12 2006, 2:00 and 7:30 at the Barshinger Center (2006 Schedule)
When first sitting down to sketch out the notes for this final summer Allegro concert, I had visions of emphasizing the 250th anniversary of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's birth. But a “funny thing happened on the way to Barshinger”….I became more and more intrigued by the psyche of tonight's three composers. (Insert dreamy harp music and unfocussed visual effects.) Imagine Leopold Mozart, his son Wolfgang, and Mr. Beethoven sharing the analyst's couch with Dr. Phil! Do you know who I'm talking about when referencing Dr. Phil? ( 3:00pm on Channel 8 , Texas accent, bald-which of course suggests handsome, and keeper of all knowledge) The show might first delve into Leopold's overly controlling behavior in reference to his son Wolfgang. Soon after, an audience member ponders the social effects of Wolfgang's genius but crude persona during an age of monarchy-controlled musicians. Not to be left out, Ludwig van Beethoven speaks to the concerns of his fate as a misunderstood, soon-to-be-deaf, tortured composer of fate. At this point, Dr. Phil signals for a commercial break as these three strong-willed musicians/composers require assistance far beyond a one hour TV show. ( Dreamy, unfocussed effects clear.) Yes, these three ambitious men of music were not void of issues that both shaped and eventually ended their creative lives. Fortunately for the Allegro audience, the assignment tonight is much simpler and more rewarding than Dr. Phil's. We simply ask you to experience and enjoy the masterworks of these three musical pioneers of the late 18 th and early 19 th Centuries. By the way, Oprah's show follows at 4:00 (E.S.T.) entitled: “Misunderstood Timpanists: Why they feel the need to violently strike objects”.
Toy Symphony by Johann Georg Leopold Mozart (1719-1787)
Leopold Mozart was the son of a bookbinder. He studied theology at Salzburg University and did quite well until his expulsion in 1739. Parents of university students take heed; apparently his attendance at college was less than stellar. He would soon climb the ladder of the musician's totem pole through Salzburg court-run orchestras until reaching the position as Kappellmeister. Leopold and his wife gave birth to seven children but only two, Maria Anna (Nannerl) and Wolfgang survived to adulthood. Leopold is credited with a comprehensive treatise on violin playing of the 18th century. Besides the “Toy Symphony”, Leopold Mozart wrote a number of other symphonies and a number of concerti for transverse flute, oboe, bassoon, waldhorn, and trumpet. I was intrigued by one of his pieces entitled “Jagdsinfonie” for 4 horns and strings……..sounds normal enough until you investigate further to find calls written for dogs and shotguns! Gee, almost makes the utilization of children's toys seem rather tame. Leopold Mozart has no “late period” to his composing legacy since his promotional energies were heaved onto his children, early in this young father's life.
While Leopold Mozart (probably) wrote the “Toy Symphony” in 1756, it was not published until 1820, thirty-three years after his death. Today, we also know this light, fun piece as “Cassation in G for Orchestra and Toys.” Leopold's composition utilizes common toys, most of which are permanently available to entertain the musicians of Allegro during rehearsal breaks throughout the season: rattle, triangle, nightingale, quail, toy drum, and toy trumpet ( our secret until now ).
OK, so you noticed the word “probably” in the previous paragraph. Am I suggesting that maybe Leopold Mozart didn't write the “Toy Symphony”? Well the jury is forever out on this controversy but I will mention a few other possible composers. The piece was once strongly attributed to Joseph Haydn while some suggest his brother Michael as the creator of the “Toy.” There is also a theory that points a compositional finger at a Benedictine monk named Father Edmund Angerer (1740-1794). Supposedly this Tyrolean composer named this three movement gem “Berchtoldsgaden Musick” because of the scoring for children's instruments. Music making children's toys were manufactured in large numbers and great variety in the Berchtesgaden region in those days and sold by itinerant vendors all across Europe . Will we ever know the real composer's identity? Where is Geraldo when you need him ?
Piano Concerto No. 21 in C major, k.467 by W.A. Mozart (1756-1791)
“astonishingly difficult”
- Leopold Mozart's reference to Concerto No. 21
If one wishes to learn everything there is to know about Mozart, but could only study a single type of composition, the best choice would be the piano concerto. In this one area, Mozart produced twenty-seven pieces, more piano concerti than any other important composer. His fascination with the piano concerto parallels Europe 's interest in the piano itself. In the composer's early years, pianos were still regarded as new inventions. Harpsichords, which had been the stars of the Baroque era, were as yet highly regarded. Gradually, though, the greater power and versatility of the piano gave it precedence over its predecessor.
It was in March of 1785 that Mozart composed his “Concerto No. 21,” completing it merely one month after his previous concerto. He wrote his concerti for his own performance needs which meant that he didn't bother jotting down solo cadenzas, instead improvising them on the spot. Such a practice brought great verve and spontaneity to a performance, much like enjoying a Tom Pontz jazz piano improv solo at The Pressroom. The challenge for tonight's soloist, Maria Corley, is to match the master's seemingly effortless style, particularly so in this case since No. 21 is among the most technically demanding of all Mozart's concerti.
The March 10 premiere of this concerto, in Vienna , would have been a popular concert ticket for music patrons. According to an advertisement for the concert: “ On Thursday, March 10, 17 85, Kappellmeister Mozart will have the honor of giving in the Imperial and Royal Court Theater a Grand Musical Concert for his own benefit including not only a new, just finished fortepiano concerto to be played by him, but also an especially large fortepiano with pedals will be used for improvisations.” The pedals do not seem to have been the soft and sustain pedals familiar in modern pianos, but a series of reinforcing bass notes played in the manner of an organist's foot pedals.
If the second of three movements sounds familiar, you might very well be a movie buff. This lyrical movement, poignantly projects a sense of melancholy throughout, perfect for usage in the 1967 Swedish film Elvira Madigan. Like many of Mozart's slow movements, this one has connections to the world of opera. In his classic 1945 biography of Mozart, Alfred Einstein described the movement as “…like an ideal aria freed of all the limitations of the human voice.”
Concerned that things will be a little too melancholy for an August evening at Barshinger? Please don't concern yourself. Mozart sandwiches the slow movement between two quick sections that can best be described as jolly, joyous, perky and finally triumphant…….just like your blue-shirted musicians of Allegro.
Symphony No. 5 in C Minor, Opus 67 by Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)
dit-dit-dit-dot! Get it? Let's take a moment to suggest two possible explanations for these four notes. Beethoven's secretary, Anton Schindler wrote the following, many years after Beethoven's death.
The composer himself provided the key to these depths when
One day, in this author's presence, he pointed to the beginning
of the first movement and expressed in these words the funda-
mental idea of his work : Thus Fate knocks at the door !”
That would be the end of this story were it not for the fact that Schindler often forged entries into Beethoven's conversation books while offering a highly romanticized view of the composer. Let's try another possibility….One of Beethoven's pupils, Karl Czerny, claimed that “ the little pattern of notes had come to the composer from a yellow-hammer's song, heard as he walked in the park in Vienna .” My guess is that you prefer the “fate” story even though Czerny's account is probably too unique to have been invented.
You might recall that the first performance of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony is also a wonderfully colorful story. The date was December 28, 18 08 and the work was part of a four hour concert consisting entirely of new major Beethoven works, including his Sixth Symphony, Mass in C, Fourth Piano Concerto, and Choral Fantasia. By the time the Fifth rolled around that night, the audience was not only too exhausted to have paid much notice but also nearly frozen, as the hall was unheated and the winter bitterly cold. With only a single rehearsal by a pick-up ensemble for the entire program of unfamiliar and difficult music, the execution was a mess; at one point, things got so tangled that Beethoven had to stop and restart, a humiliation that the shivering players repaid.
The key of the Fifth Symphony, C minor, is commonly regarded as a special key for Beethoven, specifically a “ stormy, heroic tonality .” While Mozart may have written out masterpieces in final form right off the top of his head, Beethoven struggled over the Fifth for nearly a decade. To ensure future friendships with my fellow musicians, I will also point out the significance of Beethoven's writing for both trombone and piccolo in the final movement of this symphony. Contrary to popular thought, Beethoven was not the first to include these two instruments in a symphonic composition. Swedish composer, Joachim Eggert, specified trombones for his Symphony in E-flat in 1807 and Michael Haydn's 1773 Symphony No. 19 included piccolo parts. Still we welcome these musicians and simply request that the trombones and piccolo present an “Allegro Joyful Smile” when not actually forming an embouchure.
Enjoy the child-like playfulness of Leopold Mozart, the genius of Wolfgang Mozart, and the inner-turmoil and monumental creation of Beethoven. It is the mission of Allegro to bring you our joyful presentation of the world's greatest music.
–Doug Albert