Download Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)
As a composer, Mozart was torn between the demands of a »doubled taste« his
entire life long. He was expected on the one hand to be a pragmatic »politicus«
catering to the preferences of the moneyed music lovers who were his financial
backers, and on the other, he was obliged to follow his own aspirations toward »the
science of composition«, that is, creating for connoisseurs works of art that were as
independent as they were individualistic. His principles did not allow him to give in
too often or too literally to the urgent demand of his publisher, Hoffmeister, to
»write music that is more popular! «. This ambivalence can be seen very clearly in
his series of piano concertos. »This here is certainly the land of the piano«, was his
thoroughly accurate assessment of Vienna and the Viennese, and he made optimal
use of the fifteen piano concertos he composed between K.413 and K.503 to benefit
the »academies« he put on at his own expense in order to gain »fame, honor and
money«. His often quoted letter of October 28, 1782, in which he characterized the
piano concertos K.413-415 as »somewhere between too hard and too easy – are
very brilliant – pleasant to the ears – but of course without falling into hollowness
...« shows what a virtuoso he was in playing on the keyboard not only of the piano
but also on that of the dialectics of taste.
Neither Mozart’s straining the limits of society’s artistic conventions in his later
piano concertos, especially those in D minor and C minor, of course, should come as
a surprise, nor his attempts to bring these conventions back into his compositional,
as well as commercial, calculations: »Dearest friend! Companion of my youth ... I
would long ago have sent a piece of my trifling work to your honorable prince – at
whose feet I ask you to lay me – had I known which works my father had already
perhaps sent him, if any. – I therefore append a list of newborn works from which
His Grace need but choose for me to be at His humble service.«
Mozart wrote this ardent letter in March of 1785 to Sebastian Winter, the valet de
chambre at the court of Donaueschingen where then, as now, a Prince of
Fuerstenberg resided who was a patron of the arts. Mozart sent him five piano
concertos, including that in A major K.488. Apparently, Mozart considered it close
enough to society’s taste, sufficiently »pleasant to the ears«, to be well received
when performed on stately court occasions.
Upon closer inspection, of course, the piece shows much that is extraordinary
concealed directly beneath its rather conventional surface, especially the discreet
timbre of the orchestra, which favors clarinets over oboes and turns inward by
forgoing the brilliance of trumpets and timpani. As Alfred Einstein remarked, »For
Mozart, A major is a colorful key, as translucent as the windows of a church.« And
not until the composer lets the rondo in the finale begin do we realize the depths of
disconsolate melancholy to which the unusual middle movement in F sharp minor
had abducted us.
Incidentally, this concerto was considered worthy of receiving a mention in another
letter to the court at Donaueschingen. Here we read, »The concerto in A major calls
for two clarinetti which, should the like not be on hand at your court, a skilled
copyist could transpose to such a pitch that the first might be replaced by a violin
and the second played by a viola« – and are forced to realize that Mozart in his
pragmatism made all haste to declare himself willing to sacrifice this unique feature.
One of Mozart’s own estimations has also survived in regard of the E-flat Major
Concerto K. 449: he called it a »concerto of a very special kind«. It was the first
piece to be included in Mozart’s »Index of All My Works« and one of the few
concertos which he did not write exclusively for himself, but dedicated to his pupil
Barbara Ployer, daughter of an agent of the Imperial Court in Salzburg; his sister
Nannerl also played it.
»Of a very special kind« it is indeed, particularly owing to its final movement, a
ravishing combination of opera buffa style with a counterpoint that conceals its
erudition behind its wit and in so doing marches through the circle of fifths most
subtly up to the remote key of Dflat minor. And because the first two movements
also offer up stylistic audacities and chromatic-dramatic agitations, Charles Rosen
calls it a »daring, even revolutionary work, despite its modest appearance«.
In learning the violin, Mozart had followed the method of his father Leopold,
probably one of the most widely used at that time and which familiarized its pupils
with »effective figures« calculated to impress the listener with their brilliance
without being examples of »virtuosity« in the Romantic sense. When Mozart came
to Italy in 1770, he was so accomplished on the violin that two of the most famous
composers for this instrument, Sammartini and Nardini, dedicated works to him,
even though this obstinate son preferred the then less popular piano. And although
he largely abstained from presenting himself as a violinist in later years, his skill
nonetheless stood him in good stead when he took up his position as concert master
at the Salzburg court, for instance.
His violin concertos were written while Mozart was in Salzburg, all five of those
considered authentic in the year 1775. They are not, as has been variously
asserted, secondary works, but »fully as ambitious as any« (Einstein), and
moreover exhibit a distinct advancement in expression and quality.
After the first two concertos, K. 207 and 211, which are still judged to be »not very
personal «, Mozart’s G Major Concerto K. 216 suddenly shows him to be an
accomplished, mature composer. The relation between solo and orchestra deepens
into a dense, intimate dialogue. The second movement is an adagio »fallen from
heaven« (Einstein) with flutes in place of the oboes, in which the melodic qualities
of the violins are set free (duplets against triplets in the orchestra) above an
enchantingly beautiful orchestral foundation consisting of muted strings and plucked
double basses. The rondo in the French style contains episodes – comparable to the
picturesque insertions in the final movements of the other concertos – in a different
meter in which a serenade evolves into an allegretto in folk-song style. Both are
probably quotations of French themes, worked in to amuse an audience that would
recognize them.
The fourth concerto, K.218 in D Major, was composed in October and it was long
accepted as fact that this piece was »modeled« on a concerto in the same key by
Boccherini, which Mozart was alleged to have heard in Florence in 1770. (Since
then, the latter has been shown to have been a fake actually modeled on K.218.)
However, Mozart was not entirely averse to making use of others’ ideas, as shown
in a letter written from Augsburg to his father in 1777, »At the evening supper I
played the ‘Strasbourg Concerto’. It was received very well. My lovely, pure tone
was praised by all and sundry.« (Mozart apparently played the piece during the
evening meal!) The city’s name is a reference to the musette section in the final
movement – a folk song which Dittersdorf also used in his Carnival Symphony (as
»Ballo Strasburghese«).
The slightly operatic, fanfare-like entry of the first movement appears twice, at the
beginning of the orchestra exposition and the solo exposition, and then is heard no
more. The key of D Major so typical of violin concertos apparently inspired Mozart to
make use of lustrous tonal colors, often taking the solo part, which exudes a joy of
life and a sense of the chivalresque, to impressive heights. When the slow
movement starts, »a sensitive interior world opens up, composed of contemplation,
wide-ranging melodies and understanding dialogue« (Dibelius). As in the other
concertos, the rondo in the French style contains picturesque inclusions that have
been discussed far and wide. The explicitly antiquated refrain is twice followed by an
episode in the six-eight meter of the stile brillant, the third time by a gavotte
containing the Strasbourg theme (violin with open G string as bourdon).
How did Mozart play his violin music, or rather, how did he want to have it
performed? Undoubtedly as did the Mannheim violinist Ignaz Fraenzl, whom he so
highly praised, »He plays difficult music without it seeming difficult, you feel you
could easily do the same. And that is the truth«, which shows that Mozart was on
his best behavior in this case, practicing the »modest virtuosity« recommended by
Freiherr von Knigge, the German Emily Post.
In June of 1783, Pasquale Anfossi’s opera buffa »Il curioso indiscreto« premiered,
performed by the Italian Opera Troupe in Vienna, with two Germans in the leading
roles: the tenor Valentin Adamberger and the soprano Aloysia Lange, Mozart’s
sister-in-law. Mozart wrote arias for both, arias which were not merely added to
Anfossi’s opera – a common practice at the time – but were intended to replace
original arias: an especially effective way for Mozart to make the Italians his
enemies. Aloysia sang her two arias, but Adamberger, allowing himself to be cowed
by Anfossi, refrained from singing his aria. Mozart never heard this rondo »Per
Pietà« K. 420, a piece which would have been »world famous, had it been in the
‘Nozze’ or ‘Don Giovanni’ « (Einstein). »Si Mostra la Sorte« is the same sort of insert
or substitute piece for an opera buffa, which a traveling Italian troupe must have
brought to Salzburg. And that is all that Mozart researchers have been able to
discover about this charming piece.
Anna Selina Storace – born in 1766 to an Italian father and an English mother, her
brother one of Mozart’s friends and perhaps his composition pupil, an attractive
woman and an excellent stage actress – was Susanna in Mozart’s first »Figaro« and
it was to her that he dedicated his Scena and rondo, Ch’io mi scordi di te. Non
temer amato bene, K. 505. The work was probably composed for the »academy«
held on February 23, 1787, which was also the singer’s farewell appearance before
leaving Vienna to return to London. Mozart will undoubtedly have found this a
sorrowful parting for more than artistic reasons, since he was in love with the 21year-old. »For Msell. Storace and myself « is written in his thematic index, which in
this case means that the orchestra was supplemented by a concertante piano part –
played by the composer. And no unwarranted interpretation is required to recognize
an effusive, idealized portrait of this relationship in the way the solo part comes
together and entwines in intimate affection. Mozart took the text, perfectly apt to
the occasion, from a later version of his opera »Idomeneo«.
The horn virtuoso Joseph Leutgeb has won a place in music history as the recipient
of Mozart’s three horn concertos in E flat Major (K. 417, 447 and 495) and the
victim of several more or less coarse pranks. The »dedication« to K. 417 has gained
fame (although it also implies that a long-standing wish was finally fulfilled),
»Wolfgang Amadé Mozart has taken pity on Leitgeb the ox, ass and fool in Vienna
this 27th day of May 1783«, as has the copy of K. 495 written in ink of four different
colors. (This has long ceased to be interpreted as a playful attempt to create
confusion, however, but is now considered to be an example of a »color code« with
musical significance, or even as an indication of a »theatrical act«.) In any case,
there is no doubt that Leutgeb was not only the long-suffering target of practical
jokes, but also an excellent musician who performed solo concerts in Europe and
who was a virtuoso in the art of overcoming the limitations of his natural horn by
using »stopping technique« and correcting its »off-pitch« natural tones. Moreover, it
would appear that he provided the composer with thorough instruction in these
possibilities, since Mozart composed horn parts with chromatic passages which take
for granted this art of stopping with the right hand, as well as exhibiting detailed
knowledge of the range and flexibility of the instrument, not to mention the amount
of wear and tear which the player’s lips could be expected to tolerate.
Not only the Concerto in E flat Major K. 447 is in the same key as its two fellows,
like them it also consists of three movements and exhibits a salient reverence for
the widely praised abilities of Leutgeb to achieve a cantabile sound. As in K. 495,
Mozart gives the expressive middle movement the title of »Romance« and, as in the
other horn concertos, the final movement is a »Chasse«, a piece in 6/8 meter
related to the hunt. The work is scored for an orchestra, however, which distinctly
differs from the standard is that Mozart calls for clarinets and bassoons in stead of
oboes and horns.
Rainer Peters