Four Centuries of Great Music January 28, 2024 Happy Birthday Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Today on Four Centuries of Great Music we are celebrating the 268th birthday of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart which was yesterday.   Who really was Mozart?  What was he really like? We really don’t know.  

We have no official portraits, death masks or anything but simple descriptions of him.  He was described as a man of small stature - 5 feet in height, and he was very thin and pale.  There was nothing from his appearance that would indicate the genius that was within.  Most researchers point to Mozart's childish and even somewhat irresponsible character, which led him, at times, to make impulsive decisions.  He is described as a cheerful, optimistic, hospitable, generous workaholic.  He was proud of his abilities.  He rejected the image of the musician and composer as servant which caused him no small amount of trouble in the course of his lifetime.

During his lifetime when the excitement surrounding his life as a touring prodigy had ended, Mozart’s miraculous genius was largely under appreciated.   Today we revel in the clarity and brilliance of his music. His bubbling melodies and crystal clear structural integrity of his music defines what it is to be a classical music composer.

The composer Aaron Copland said “Mozart tapped the source from which all music flows, expressing himself with a spontaneity, refinement and breath-taking rightness that has never since been duplicated.”

In a self-depreciating comment that honored Mozart’s legacy, Tom Lehrer said, "It is a sobering thought that when Mozart was my age, he had been dead for two years”

But let’s revel in his genius by listening to his music.

We open with Mozart’s Symphony #40 in G minor K 550.  It is in 4 movements: Molto Allegro, Andante, Minuetto-Allegretto-Trio and  Finale Allegro Assai

Here is a performance of Mozart’s Symphony #40 in G minor K 550 by Bruno Walter conducting the New York Philharmonic Orchestra from the album Mozart: Symphonies #39, 40 & 41 “Jupiter”. Columbia/Sony

Today on Four Centuries of Great Music we are celebrating the 268th birthday of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart which was yesterday.  Next is Mozart: Piano Sonata in D Major No. 6  K. 284

There are three movements:   I. Allegro,   II. Rondeau en Polonaise - Andante and   III. Tema con variazione

Here is a performance of Mozart: Piano Sonata in D Major No. 6  K. 284 by Orli Shaham  from the album Mozart. Complete Piano Sonatas VOL. 4 which was released just this past Fall with her volume 5 expected out this Spring.  Canary Classics

Let's start the second hour  with Mozart: Clarinet Concerto in A Major, K. 622.   It is in 3 movements: 1. Allegro;  2. Adagio
and 3. Rondo (Allegro)

As performed by Harold Wright, Seiji Ozawa & Boston Symphony Orchestra from the album  Mozart: Clarinet Concerto, Flute Concerto No. 1 & Bassoon Concerto in B.    Deutsche Grammophon

Let's conclude this episode of Four Centuries of Great Music on which we are celebrating the 268th birthday of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart which was yesterday. with  MOZART: Violin Concerto No. 3 in G major K 216.  It is in 3 movements:
I.  Allegro; II. Adagio and III. Rondeau Allegro.  Here is a performance  by  Renaud Capuçon  with the The Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne from the album Mozart: The Violin Concertos.   Deutsche Grammophon

We have a few minutes left so lets listen to the aria Colla bocca, e non col core” from the opera La finta semplice, K. 51 written when Mozart was 12 years old as performed by Marie-Eve Munger with Les Boréades de Montréal conducted by Philippe Bourque  from the album Maestrino Mozart.  ATMA Classique