VOICES OF VIENNA
three trombones, tuba, timpani( doubling tambourine), bass drum, cowbell, kazoo, ratchet, cymbal( suspended, suspended sizzle, and crash), vibraslap, castanets, snare drum, tam-tam, triangle, whip, motor horn, harp, and strings.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Born: January 27, 1756 in Salzburg, Austria Died: December 5, 1791 in Vienna, Austria
PIANO CONCERTO NO. 21 IN C MAJOR, K. 467 [ 1785 ]
When Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart established himself in Vienna, in 1781, he did so hoping to make a name for himself as a composer and pianist. The intersection of these two disciplines came in the composition of piano concertos. In the winter of 1785, he completed his D-minor Piano Concerto( K. 466) on February 10 and almost immediately embarked on this C-major Concerto, which he finished on March 9, the day before its premiere. It was not unusual for him to write pieces in what strike us as balancing pairs, often a dramatic, minor-key work alongside a more cheerful, major-key one. The dyad of the D-minor and C-major Concertos is characteristic of this tendency; the D-minor is as tempestuous and demonic as the C-major is upbeat and angelic.
A handbill advertising the concert on Thursday, March 10, 1785, stated that“ Kapellmeister Mozart will have the honor of giving a Grand Musical Concert for his benefit, at which not only a new, just finished Forte piano Concerto will be played by him, but also an especially large Forte piano pedal will be used by him in improvising.” As our composer was also an accomplished organist, he would have easily negotiated a pedal piano. The added“ oomph” of the pedal notes would have helped compensate for the rather weak bass register of many regular fortepianos. We cannot say for sure that Mozart actually played the pedals when he premiered this concerto( as he certainly did in his improvisation), but there is no question that the pedalboard was in place, tuned, and available.
In the later 20 th century, this became the most famous of all Mozart’ s piano concertos when its supernal slow movement was used on the sound track for the 1967 movie Elvira Madigan, a Swedish film that details the charmed but ultimately doomed romance between a tightrope walker( Ms. Madigan) and a truant army lieutenant. The slender plot is filled out by extended scenes in which the carefree lovers romp through fields of wildflowers, picnic unencumbered by ants or mosquitoes, and generally revel in the ecstasy of romantic infatuation— all of this being filmed through a lens infused with potentially cloying sweetness. It propelled Mozart’ s Andante to popular stardom, and to this day you may encounter it— either as Mozart wrote it or in a swooning arrangement— while you sit on hold with customer service.
Instrumentation: Flute, two oboes, two bassoons, two horns, two trumpets, timpani, and strings, in addition to the solo piano.
Franz Schubert
Born January 31, 1797 in Liechtenthal, then a suburb of Vienna( now incorporated into the city) Died November 19, 1828 in Vienna
SYMPHONY NO. 9 IN C MAJOR, D. 944,“ THE GREAT” [ 1825 – 26 ]
Since the chronology and numbering of Schubert’ s symphonies was plagued by confusion through the years, partly because not a single one was published while he was alive, we can be grateful that this C-major Symphony is universally known as“ The Great,” to help distinguish it from
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