180 Days With Mozart And Me

I can’t believe it’s supposed to get up to 60 degrees (F.) today. And be sunny! This is Michigan. In early March. We’re not supposed to see the sun for at least another two months. (That’s an exaggeration. But it feels that way when you live here.)

Today’s selection of music is fascinating, not just because two of the compositions were created by a Mozart of nine or 10 years of age. That, in itself, is worth mentioning. When I was nine or 10 I was probably watching Lost in Space and pretending to be the robot in the schoolyard at recess.

I must also mention that gone is pianist Mitsuko Uchida who appeared on the first five CDs in Box 9. The performer on today’s CD is Austrian pianist Ingrid Haebler.

Other interesting things to note about today’s music:

1. All compositions are variations on themes created by others.

2. The first two compositions were written while Mozart (at 9 or 10 years of age) was in the Netherlands. The second one (Seven Variations in D, K.25) is also referred to by the name “Willem van Nassau.” Information about that comes from a review by Robert Cummings, All Music Guide, posted on Answers.com:

This is obviously a very early work by the prodigious, then-ten-year-old Mozart. His family had spent the winter of 1765-1766 in the Netherlands, where the theme to this antique Dutch anthem was apparently very popular among the people. Mozart must have found it catchy, since he fashioned this, his second set of keyboard variations from it while there. He had just completed his first, the K. 24 set, also on a Dutch source, the song Laat ons juichen, Batavieren! by Christian Ernst Graaf. This K. 25 set opens with a jaunty but graceful statement of the theme played in the upper register. The first variation embellishes the melody, making it sound busier and more playful. The next gives it a more muscular manner but without shedding its sprightly spirit, while the ensuing variant races up and down the keyboard, colorful swirls of notes abounding. The fourth hops about playfully, while the fifth is a lovely Adagio with sparse textures, the longest of the variations. The effervescent ensuing variant is light-treaded in the upper register and full of energy, while the closing one is joyful in its rhythmic drive. This piece typically has a duration of about seven minutes. ~ Robert Cummings, All Music Guide

3. One piece (Six Variations in G, K.180) was composed by Antonio Salieri. Here’s a little about him from his entry on Wikipedia:

Antonio Salieri (18 August 1750 – 7 May 1825) was an Italian composer, conductor and teacher born in the Republic of Venice, but who spent his adult life and career as a faithful subject of the Hapsburg Monarchy. Salieri was a pivotal figure in the development of late 18th century opera. As a student of Florian Leopold Gassmann, and a protege of Gluck, Salieri was a cosmopolitan composer who wrote operas in three languages. Salieri helped to develop and shape many of the features of operatic compositional vocabulary and his music was a powerful influence on contemporary composers.

Of course, Salieri – at least according to the Oscar-winning movie Amadeus – is the man who killed Mozart by poisoning him.

What follows are two quotes from the book Mozart: the man and the artist revealed in his own words compiled and annotated by Friedrich Kerst. (The book is public domain on the Project Gutenberg web site. So it can be quoted from freely without copyright infringement.):

“I shall not last much longer. I am sure that I have been poisoned! I can not rid myself of this thought.”

(Mozart believed that he had been poisoned by one of his Italian rivals, his suspicion falling most strongly on Salieri. ["As regards Mozart, Salieri cannot escape censure, for though the accusation of having been the cause of his death has been long ago disproved, it is more than possible that he was not displeased at the removal of so formidable a rival. At any rate, though he had it in his power to influence the Emperor in Mozart's favor, he not only neglected to do so, but even intrigued against him as Mozart himself relates in a letter to his friend Puchberg. After his death, however, Salieri befriended his son, and gave him a testimonial which secured him his first appointment." C.F. Pohl, in "Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians."])

And this quote, reported by his sister-in-law Sophie, sister of his wife Constanze:

“Stay with me to-night; you must see me die. I have long had the taste of death on my tongue, I smell death, and who will stand by my Constanze, if you do not stay?”

Here is what I listened to today, complete with the best guesses of scholars regarding where and when each piano sonata was composed. This information was pieced together from The Compactothèque book + CD, which is an essential purchase if you want the fullest enjoyment from the Philips Complete Mozart Edition. It’s only about $8 and the sampler CD, alone, is remarkably enjoyable. But the booklet is gold, Jerry! Gold! Keep in mind, some of these places and dates are merely guesses. But I find it fascinating to see even guesses for some of these compositions. They help me put Mozart’s life and creative output in perspective.

For example, Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart was born on 27 January 1756. With that in mind, take a look at where and when these pieces were composed. I’ll add Mozart’s approximate age in the parenthetical data below each listed sonata:

1. Eight Variations in G, K.24 on “Laat ons juichen, Batavieren!” (Translated from the Dutch, according to one online site as “Let shout with joy our, Batavieren!”)
- The Hague, January, 1766 (Mozart was either 9 or 10 depending on the date in January)

2. Seven Variations in D, K.25 on “Willem van Nassau”
- Amsterdam, February, 1766 (Mozart was 10)

3. 12 Variations in C, K.179 on a minuet by J.C. Fischer
- Salzburg, Summer, 1774 (Mozart was 18)

4. Six Variations in G, K.180 on “Mio caro Adone” by A. Salieri
- Vienna, Autumn, 1773 (Mozart was 17)

5. Nine Variations in C, K.264 on “Lison dormait” by N. Dezède
- Paris, Summer, 1778 (Mozart was 22)

Here’s a YouTube video of Raymond Sanga, a 27-year-old pianist from the Philippines, playing the first part of Mozart’s “Lison dormait” variations:

Compare his version to Ingrid Haebler’s.

I liked all of today’s music. It wasn’t particularly deep or lush or enthralling. But it was highly entertaining. Lots of trills and sprightly keyboard work that almost sounds as though it would be right home played on the harpsichord. Very Classical music.