Download The Best of Mozart PROGRAMME NOTES Eine kleine Nachtmusik

The Best of Mozart
PROGRAMME NOTES
Eine kleine Nachtmusik
The title “Eine kleine Nachtmusik” derives from Mozart’s own brief description of this
Serenade in G Major in his catalogue of his own works: “kleine” not because it was
“little,” but rather because it was short (most serenades include seven or eight
movements). Vienna was famous for its outdoor “night music,” as described in the
following account of 1793:
During the summer months, if the weather is fine, one comes across serenades
performed in the streets almost daily and at all hours, sometimes at one o’clock and
even later. It is just these nocturnal concerts that show very clearly the universality
and greatness of the love of music, since, no matter how late at night they take place
— at hours when, usually, everyone is hurrying home — one nevertheless soon
discovers people at their open windows, and within a few minutes the musicians are
surrounded by an applauding crowd of listeners who rarely depart until the serenade
has come to an end, and then troupes of them often accompany [the musicians] to
yet other neighbourhoods of the city.
Most of the Viennese serenades would probably have been played by so-called
Harmoniemusik, ensembles of wind players whose instruments were arguably better
suited to outdoor performance than string instruments. This serenade, scored only for
strings, is therefore rather exceptional. Nothing is known about the circumstances of its
composition or performance, but perhaps it was meant for an indoor gathering, possibly
written on commission. It is also not known whether it was meant by Mozart to be played
by just five players (the usual string quartet plus double bass), or by an entire string
ensemble. In fact, it sounds delightful both ways. It was to be Mozart’s last serenade, and
remains one of his familiar and beloved works, full of elegance, wit, and charm.
Sinfonia Concertante for violin and viola
The Sinfonia Concertante in E-flat, KV. 364 is thought to have been composed in
Salzburg during the summer of 1779, when Mozart was twenty-three years old. He had
recently returned from a trip to Mannheim and Paris. Mannheim is considered the
birthplace of the sinfonia concertante, a form that blends elements of the newer
symphonic form with the baroque concerto grosso, in which a group of soloists is
contrasted with a larger ensemble. This form was extremely popular in Paris, and a
mainstay of the Concert Spiritual, a public concert series held at the Tuileries Palace.
Mozart had written a sinfonia concertante for performance there in April 1778 (K.297b,
scored for solo flute, oboe, horn, and bassoon with orchestra; for unknown reasons it was
never performed). Back in Salzburg a year later, he set out to compose two sinfonia
concertantes. The first, featuring solo violin, viola, and cello, was unfortunately never
completed. Thankfully he completed the second, scored for violin and viola, and it is
counted among the most original and masterful works written by Mozart during his years
in Salzburg. He was obviously keen to feature the often-overlooked viola, and
interestingly wrote the viola part a half-step lower than all the others, in D major rather
than E-flat. This requires the violist to tune his or her instrument a half-step higher in
order to sound in the same key as everyone else, giving the viola added brilliance, and
allowing it to compete more equally with the solo violin. It has been conjectured that the
beautiful, somewhat introspective Andante may be a tribute to Mozart’s mother, who had
died in 1778 during their stay in Paris.
Symphony no. 40 in G Minor
Count Arco, Master of Archbishop Colloredo’s Kitchen, had said to Mozart when he left
Salzburg in 1781: “here [in Vienna] a man’s success is of short duration — at the outset
one reaps all possible praises and earns a great deal of money as well, That is true, but for
how long? — after a few months the Viennese want something new again.”
If Mozart’s fortunes looked bright during his first years in Vienna, they indeed soon
turned. By 1788 Mozart was in serious debt, as attested by a series of heartrending letters
to his fellow Mason, Michael Puchberg, pleading for money. In all, Puchberg lent Mozart
1,415 gulden, a significant sum. Constanze’s health was suffering from the strain of
repeated pregnancies, and on June 29 the Mozarts’ fourth child, Theresia, died at the age
of six months. Three days earlier Mozart had completed Symphony no. 39 in E-Flat
Major. Symphony no. 40 in G Minor followed four weeks later, and Symphony no. 41 in
C Major two weeks after that. These last three symphonies of Mozart were apparently
composed neither on commission, nor with any concrete plans for performance. It is
possible that Mozart directed performances of the works during his travels to Prague,
Dresden, Leipzig, and Berlin, undertaken in search of renewed fame and fortune outside
the confines of fickle Vienna.
The final three symphonies are remarkable works, widely contrasting, and together a
comprehensive summary of the classical symphony. Of the three symphonies, the one
that has drawn the most attention is the arresting Symphony no. 40. In 1793, two years
after Mozart’s death, it was advertised by the Viennese music dealer Johann Traeg as
“one of the last and most beautiful of this master.” The work was widely known and
performed, and was very influential. Its unusual quiet opening has been described by the
Mozart scholar Neal Zaslaw as “an accompaniment waiting for a tune to accompany.” He
goes on to point out that its essence can be heard again in Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony,
Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto, and Bruckner symphonies. The slow movement is
quoted by Haydn in his oratorio The Seasons. The quotation appears in the aria where
winter is compared to old age, following the words “exhausted is the summer’s
strength” — Haydn’s gesture a commemoration of the loss of his younger colleague as
well as a reflection of the approaching end of his own career. Schubert made a copy of
the Minuet and used it as a model for the G-Minor Minuet of his Fifth Symphony.
Early nineteenth-century critics already described the symphony as “romantic,” and
although it is a near-perfect exemplar of the classical style, it is also a deeply personal,
original, and intense work. Much has been written about its significance as a link between
musical classicism and romanticism. Zaslaw describes it as “perhaps even a mournful
hint at what Mozart might have composed had he lived a normal lifespan.”
©Tafelmusik 2016