Classic Ross Amico

Tag: Mozart

Princeton Symphony Plays Saint-Georges Mozart

Music by violinist, conductor, and master swordsman Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges, will open this weekend’s concert – the first of the new year – by the Princeton Symphony Orchestra. The virtual event will stream this Sunday at 4 pm EST.

Born on Christmas Day, 1745, in the French colony of Guadeloupe, Saint-Georges gained renown as a soldier as well as a musician. Commander of the so-called “American Legion,” made up of free men of color, he ascended an all-too-brief thermal of opportunity in the decades leading up to and following the French Revolution. Among his fellow officers was a former fencing student, Thomas-Alexandre Dumas, father of the writer of “The Three Musketeers.” Saint-Georges also served as music teacher to Marie Antoinette. Future President of the United States John Adams, in Paris as commissioner to France, described him as “the most accomplished man in Europe.”

Saint-Georges wrote operas, concertos, and chamber music. He also commissioned and led the first performances of Haydn’s “Paris” Symphonies.

The PSO will open its Sunday program with Saint-Georges’ Symphony No. 1 in G major.

In his lifetime, the composer was identified as “Le Mozart Noir.” He actually shared a summer residence with Mozart in 1778. Mozart, 11 years Saint-Georges’ junior was evidently jealous of the older man’s success.

Be that as it may, the PSO will reunite the two artists by concluding the afternoon with Mozart’s Serenade for Winds in C minor, K. 388.

In between, Ukrainian-born pianist (now a resident of Australia) Alexander Gavrylyuk will perform works by Mozart, Brahms, and Arkady Filippenko.

Viewers will receive on-demand access to the concert for a period of one week, beginning on Sunday. To learn more and to register for admission, visit princetonsymphony.org.

January 7, 2021
Mozart Frogs & New Year Fun

May your New Year’s Day be filled with pleasant diversions.

It’s said that Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart composed his “Kegelstatt” Trio in E-flat major, K. 498, while playing skittles (essentially bowling). The work, scored for clarinet, viola and piano, takes its name from a venue devoted to the pastime.

But it was Mozart’s dad, Leopold, who wrote a “Frog Divertimento.”

Nothing says Happy New Year like a good frog party.

January 1, 2021
Carl Dittersdorf A Happy Birthday & Music

Apparently it’s a thing that some people wake on the first day of every month and, before they have even had a cup of coffee, exclaim, “Rabbit rabbit!” This, I am told, is for luck. It is a practice I somehow have never encountered, which is surprising, since surely it is the sort of quaint tradition a lover of twee, old-fashioned books would have run across well before midlife.

Be that as it may, every November 2, it is my practice to wake and the first thing I cry is “Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf!” Not for luck, mind you, but simply because it’s a name that makes me happy. Then, I’ve always had a little bit of Schroeder in me.

Dittersdorf (1739-1799) was one of the closest friends of Franz Joseph Haydn. He played first violin in a superstar string quartet, with Haydn (second violin), Mozart (viola) and Dittersdorf pupil Jan Křtitel Vaňhal – a.k.a. Johann Baptist Wanhal – (cello). Imagine being a fly on a wall at those performances, or even rehearsals! Though wet blanket Michael Kelly, the Irish tenor who created Don Basilio and Don Curzio for Mozart’s “The Marriage of Figaro,” claimed the ensemble played well enough, but was not really anything exceptional. Mee-yow!

Among Dittersdorf’s enormous output, which includes some 120 numbered symphonies (it’s possible he may have composed 90 more) are twelve programmatic works inspired by Ovid’s “Metamorphoses.”

Personally, I find more enjoyment in his chamber music. Here is his String Quartet No. 3 in G major.

But perhaps you’d prefer his Harp Concerto, once his most-frequently encountered work (which admittedly isn’t saying much).

Happy birthday, Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf! Try it. His very name gives me a sense of the kind of cheer his music embodies.

November 2, 2020
Celebrating Salieri: Beyond Mozart Rivalry

Happy birthday, Antonio Salieri! I hope you’ll join me in celebrating 270 years of “mediocrity.”

Salieri lives on in the popular imagination, of course, as the envious rival of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. But was he really?

Rumors of Salieri’s involvement in Mozart’s death were seized upon by Alexander Pushkin as early as 1831, when he came to write the tragedy “Mozart and Salieri,” which appeared only few years after Salieri himself had passed. This was later set as an opera, in 1898, by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov.

Of course, the slander has been kept alive and given even broader currency thanks to Peter Schaffer’s play, “Amadeus,” and the even more widely seen film, directed by Milos Forman. While I have no objection to dramatic license (Shakespeare would not be Shakespeare without it), it is too bad that such a generous figure – and a fine composer to boot – should live on, for the most part, in infamy.

Salieri was a generous teacher, who fostered Beethoven, Schubert, Liszt, and even the son of the genius he was rumored to have poisoned. Franz Xaver Mozart was born four months after his father’s alleged murder.

Salieri’s first act, when he was appointed Austrian Imperial Kapellmeister in 1788, was to revive Mozart’s “The Marriage of Figaro.” He was responsible for arranging first performances of his alleged nemesis’ Piano Concerto No. 22, the Clarinet Quintet, and the Symphony No. 40, and he had nothing but praise for “The Magic Flute.”

Sadly, he found no one to return the favor. Already during his later years, his own enormous compositional output (37 operas, in addition to orchestral works, concertos, chamber music, and sacred pieces) gradually faded from public memory. Ironically, it is the scandalmongers who kept his name alive.

But, as the saying goes, there is no such thing as bad publicity. In a way, “Amadeus” was the best thing to happen to Salieri in nearly 200 years. How many people remember Mozart’s string quartet partners (with Haydn), Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf and Jan Křtitel Vaňhal, both also talented and prolific composers? I’m sure they would agree – with apologies to Wilde – that the only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about.

Happy birthday, Patron Saint of Mediocrity!

Russian film version of Rimsky’s “Mozart and Salieri” (without subtitles): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ilw7oIkrDj4

In English, if a bit fuzzy:

Salieri’s Concerto for Flute, Oboe and Orchestra:

A Mozart and Salieri collaborative effort, the cantata “Per la ricuperata salute di Ofelia,” only recently rediscovered:

“I absolve you.”

August 18, 2020
Orli Shaham Bach Yard Playdates Online

Musicians continue to formulate ways to communicate during these challenging times. Naturally, Orli Shaham’s “Bach Yard Playdates,” in their live incarnation, have had to be postponed because of COVID-19.

But Shaham has come up with an inventive workaround. Beginning this Sunday at 11 a.m., she will present 10-minute interactive music segments to be streamed on the website of Kaufman Music Center (kaufmanmusiccenter.org) and social media channels (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube).

“Bach Yard Playdates” are aimed toward kids up through early elementary. Each episode will feature story times, interactive works in which children can participate from home, and selections designed to develop listening skills. Shaham will introduce each episode, and will be joined by guest musicians from Ensemble Connect, The Westerlies, and others for the performances.

The series will begin with Bach and continue with an interactive piece called “Curious Engine,” with music by Beata Moon. Shaham will narrate two original stories: “Dance of the Goat,” with music by Arthur Honegger (and the goat played by Wilden Dannenberg of Ensemble Connect), and “The Trout Family’s New Friend,” with music by Franz Schubert.

The season will run to ten episodes, through June 28. To learn more about “Bach Yard Playdates,” and for more fun musical activities to share with your kids, visit bachyard.org.

A reminder also that Shaham is in the process of sharing tracks from her forthcoming Mozart album, with a new file posted every Wednesday at her website, orlishahammozart.com. It’s an offering she’s dubbed “MidWeek Mozart.” Shaham is in the process of recording all of the Mozart sonatas for the Canary Classics label.

April 25, 2020

Tag Cloud

RECENT POSTS