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MOZART / MENDELSSOHN: Famous Overtures

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Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 - 1791) Overtures Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy (1809 -1847) A Midsummer Night's Dream: Overture, Opus 21 The life of Mozart and...

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Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 - 1791)

Overtures

Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy (1809 -1847)

A Midsummer Night's Dream: Overture, Opus 21

The life of Mozart and more particularly his early death have given rise to romantic speculation of various kinds. The film based on the play Amadeus, intended by its author as a fictional study of jealousy and human paradox, has given further currency to gossip about the composer's death, with writers suggesting various candidates for the position of murderer, ranging from his wife's lover to the jealous husband of a favourite pupil, free-masons seeking revenge for the betrayal of their secrets, or; as in the work of the Russian poet Pushkin, turned into an opera by Rimsky-Korsakov, the Court Composer Salieri.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born in Salzburg in 1756, the son of court musician, Leopold Mozart, who in the year of his son's birth had published an important book on violin-playing and was winning a reputation for this and for his work as a composer. Leopold Mozart realised very soon the exceptional talent of his son, and resolved to do his best to foster it, sacrificing at the same time his own career. He was to become Vice Kapellmeister to the Archbishop of Salzburg, retaining that position until his death in 1787.

In childhood Mozart and his elder sister Nannerl, the only two surviving children of the family, travelled widely throughout Europe, performing before kings and queens, the nobility and the curious. This period of early success was followed by disappointment as the boy grew older. Salzburg seemed to offer very little opportunity, and the death of the old Archbishop in 1772 had led to the appointment of a reformist successor who proved very much less indulgent to members of his household. It seemed that Mozart deserved better than provincial Salzburg could offer, and in 1777 he left home to seek a position elsewhere, visiting Munich, Mannheim and Paris without the kind of success that he wanted, compelled finally to return reluctantly home again.

It was not until 1781 that Mozart eventually broke with his patron, the Archbishop, during the course of a visit to Vienna. The last ten years of his life were spent in the imperial capital, without significant patronage and, more important, without the immediate guidance of his father, who remained in Salzburg. Independent at last, Mozart married imprudently, won some early success in the opera-house and in concerts of his works, but was never one to cut his coat according to the cloth. His income from composition, performance and teaching was variable and as the decade came to an end proved quite inadequate for the maintenance of what he regarded as a suitable style of living.

At the time of his death Mozart was enjoying some popular success with his German opera The Magic Flute and it seemed that his fortunes had begun to take a turn for the better, in spite of the neglect he suffered from the new Emperor. He died on 5th December, 1791, after a short illness, leaving unfinished the commissioned Requiem Mass which he had superstitiously suggested might celebrate his own death.

Salzburg had no permanent opera-house. Nevertheless Mozart, even as a child, wrote music for theatrical performances of one sort or another, before he finally availed himself of the opportunities that Vienna offered during the last ten years of his life.

The first stage work to which Mozart contributed was a Latin school play for Salzburg University, Apollo et Hyacinthus, an Intermezzo to be performed in May, 1767, between the acts of the main play, Clementia Croesi. The original legend was adapted to the morality of the day, with the introduction of suitable female characters. The short Overture is scored for oboes, horns and strings, the standard orchestra of the time.

The visit to Vienna in 1768 provided the opportunity for another work for the theatre, the German Singspiel Bastien und Bastienne; derived from a parody of Rousseau's pastoral Le devin du village. This was commissioned by Anton Mesmer, proponent of popular I pseudo-medical theories of animal magnetism and a friend of the Mozarts. The piece deals with misunderstandings between the pastoral lovers of the title, settled by the village magician. The brief G major Overture makes use of the usual orchestral forces.

Mitridate, redi Ponto, was written for Milan and first performed there on Boxing Day, 1770. The libretto was adapted at second-hand from Racine's Mithridate and offered the composer his first opera seria text, a genre that was increasingly to be displaced by newer fashions of realism. The story, an improbable adaptation of history, deals with conflicting claims of love and filial piety in the family of Mithridates, whose two sons, are rivals with him for the love of his betrothed Aspasia. The Overture is in the form of an Italian three-movement sinfonia, scored for pairs of flutes, oboes and horns, and strings.

Back in Salzburg in March Mozart provided a festa teatrale to celebrate the visit of the youngest son of the Empress, Archduke Max. Il r� pastore was adapted from Metastasio, the court poet, and had originally been performed by the children of the Imperial family. It is a decorous tale of love and pastoral identities assumed wittingly or not by princes. The C major Overtureis scored for oboes, horns, trumpets and strings.

Idomeneo was commissioned for Munich and given its first performance there on 29th January 1781. The libretto deals with the story of Idomeneo, King of Crete, who promises to sacrifice the first living thing he meets on shore, on his safe return from Troy. His son is the destined victim, saved from his fate by the intervention of Neptune. The larger orchestra at Munich provided flutes, oboes, clarinets, bassoons, horns, trumpets, drums and strings, employed in the dramatic Overture.

Die Enif�hrung aus dem Serail, a German Singspiel on a fashionable Turkish subject of rescue from the harem, marked the first dramatic success of Mozart in Vienna, where it was first performed at the Burgtheater on 16th July 1782. It blends elements of comedy with high seriousness. The Overture, in "Turkish" style, uses cymbals, triangle and bass drum, piccolo, oboes, clarinets, horns, trumpets, drums and strings, and includes a slower central section.

Der Schauspieldirektor, an occasional work, was demanded by the Emperor for performance at the palace of Schonbrunn on 7th February 1786. With seven speaking parts and three singers it parodies the difficulties faced by an impresario and formed part of a double bill with the Court Composer Salieri's Prima la musica poi le parole. The lively C major Overture is scored for flutes, oboes, clarinets, bassoons, horns, trumpets, drums and strings.

Le nozze di Figaro was first performed on 1st May 1786. The text was by Lorenzo da Ponte, adapted from the second play of the socially subversive trilogy by Beaumarchais, in which master is outwitted by man. The Overture, written two days before the opening, is closely related in mood but not in themes to the drama and is scored for the usual orchestra, which now includes clarinets.

The drama giocoso Don Giovanni, based by da Ponte on a Spanish drama concerning the amatory exploits and ghostly punishment of the dissolute Don Juan, was commissioned for Prague, where Figaro had won considerable success and where Mozart was always popular, to celebrate the marriage of the Emperor's niece. In the event there were delays, and Don Giovanni was given a fortnight later, on 29th October 1787. The Overture was written down overnight for the dress rehearsal on 28th October. It is scored for the same instruments as in the preceding work and opens with hints of ghostly vengeance, to be taken by the stone statue of the wronged father that Don Giovanni has murdered, followed by the rapider music of a sonata-form Allegro, the mixture of tragedy and comedy that marks the opera.

Lorenzo da Ponte's next libretto for Mozart was ordered by the Emperor and first performed at the Burgtheater in Vienna on 26th January 1790, its success affected by the death of the Emperor in February. Cosi fan tutte deals with the story of two lovers who are induced by an elderly cynic to test the faithfulness of their mistresses by returning in disguise, after pretending to be called away to the wars. The Overture, with the usual full orchestra, has a slow introduction, followed by a lively Allegro, quoting only the notes that are to accompany the words of the title towards the end of the piece.

The German opera Die Zauberflote with a libretto by the actor-manager Emmanuel Schikaneder, was enjoying considerable popular success as Mozart lay dying in early December 1791. It had had its first performance at the suburban Theater auf der Wieden on 30th September. The piece combines magic with masonic ritual. The Overture, in the masonic key of E flat, makes use of three trombones in addition to the usual orchestra and opens with solemn chords and a slow introduction, followed by a cheerful contrapuntal Allegro, interrupted for a moment by the solemn three-fold chords that represent the knocking at the door of the initiate.

Le clemenzal di Tito was written for Prague to a libretto adapted from Metastasio. It was commissioned for the coronation as King of Bohemia of the Emperor Leopold II, who had shown no inclination to favour Mozart in Vienna. It was performed in the imperial presence on 6th September, to be described by the Empress as "porcheria tedesca", but Prague audiences reacted more favourably, although the story of imperia1 clemency by the RQman Emperor Titus lacks anything of the originality of the operas immediately preceding it. The Overture, including clarinets as well as trumpets and drums, is well suited to an occasion of official celebration and without any slow introduction makes an immediate call on our attention.

Felix Mendelssohn, grandson of the distinguished Jewish thinker Moses Mendelssohn, was born in Hamburg in 1809, second of the four children of the banker Abraham Mendelssohn. The additional name Bartholdy was assumed at the suggestion of Felix Mendelssohn's rich uncle, the art-collector and writer Jakob Salomon-Bartholdy, a token of the fact that that branch of the family had become Christian, accepting what the Jewish poet Heine was to describe as "a ticket of admission into European culture".

As a child Mendelssohn showed prodigious talent in composition and as a pianist, gifts that received parental encouragement. It was on the advice of old Cherubini, the dour director of the Conservatoire in Paris, that his father allowed him to become a professional musician, a career in which he was to distinguish himself as a composer and as a conductor.

In his earlier years Mendelssohn wrote twelve string symphonies, one of which he arranged for full orchestra. Of the five later symphonies three form part of standard orchestral repertoire, the so-called Scottish Symphony, the Reformation and the Italian, all of them conceived, at least, during the Grand Tour of Europe that Abraham Mendelssohn had planned for his son in the early 1830s.

Mendelssohn's subsequent career took him to Leipzig, where, from 1835, he conducted the Gewandhaus Orchestra and was later to be instrumental in the establishment of a conservatory. In 1841 he became involved in attempts in Berlin by the new Prussian king, Friedrich Wilhelm IV, to bring about a general reform of the arts in his kingdom, attempts that were to be largely frustrated.

The association with Potsdam, however, led to the composition of incidental music for plays by Sophocles and Racille, and for Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, on the subject of which he had written an Overture. Shakespeare's play was an early favourite of the Mendelssohn family, and in 1826 Felix Mendelssohn had written an Overture, a musical summary of A Midsummer Night's Dream, inspired by the German translation of August Wilhelm Schlegel, brother-in-law of Mendelssohn's Aunt Dorothea, and by the beauty of a summer evening in the garden of the family house in Berlin, where Abraham Mendelssohn had settled in 1812.

Capella Istropolitana

The Capena Istropolitana was founded in 1983 by members of the Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra, at first as a chamber orchestra and then as an orchestra large enough to tackle the standard classical repertoire. Based in Bratislava, its name drawn from the ancient name still preserved in the Academia Istropolitana, the orchestra works in the recording studio and undertakes frequent tours throughout Europe. Recordings by the orchestra on the Naxos label include The Best of Baroque Music, Bach's Brandenburg Concertos, fifteen each of Mozart's and Haydn's symphonies as wen as works by Handel, Vivaldi and Telemann.

Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra

The Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra has benefited considerably from the work of its distinguished conductors. These include Vaclav Talich (1949 - 1952), Ludovit Rajter, Ladislav Slovak and Libor Pesek. Zdenek Kosler also had a long and distinguished association with the orchestra and conducted many of its most successful recordings, among them the complete symphonies of Dvořak.

Barry Wordsworth

Barry Wordsworth's career has been dominated by his work for the Royal Ballet which started when he played the solo part in Frank Martin's Harpsichord Concerto, a score used by Sir Kenneth MacMillan for his ballet, Las Hennanas. In 1973 he became Assistant Conductor of the Royal Ballet's Touring Orchestra and in 1974 Principal Conductor of Sadlers Wells Royal Ballet.

In 1987 while retaining his connection with both Royal Ballet companies as guest conductor, Barry Wordsworth also worked with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic, the Philharmonia, the Ulster Orchestra, the BBC Concert and the London Philharmonic Orchestra. For the Naxos label Wordsworth has recorded a number of Mozart and Haydn symphonies, works by Smetana and Dvořak and for the Marco Polo label works by Bax.

Anthony Bramall

Anthony Bramall was born in London in 1957 and spent five years as a chorister at Westminster Abbey, before continuing his musical education at the Purcell School and at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. He attended courses in conducting under Vilem Tausky and had varied experience as a conductor in Britain, working with Northern Ireland Opera, Phoenix Opera and Spectrum Opera, becoming, in 1981, Assistant to the General Music Director in the Municipal Theatre in Pforzheim. In 19B4 he won a special prize in the Hans Swarowsky Conducting Competition and the following year was guest conductor with the South German Chamber Orchestra. Since 1985 he has been Director of Music at the Municipal Theatre in Augsburg.

Disc 1

Apollo et Hyacinthus, K. 38

(more info)

Performed by: Capella Istropolitana
Composed by: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Conducted by: Barry Wordsworth
Recording date: 6-9 September 1988

Apollo et Hyacinthus, K. 38 - 3:09

Bastien und Bastienne, K. 50

(more info)

Performed by: Capella Istropolitana
Composed by: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Conducted by: Barry Wordsworth
Recording date: 6-9 September 1988

Bastien und Bastienne, K. 50 - 2:02

Mitridate, re di Ponto, K. 87: Overture

(more info)

Performed by: Mozart Festival Orchestra Capella Istropolitana Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra Norwegian National Opera Orchestra
Composed by: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Conducted by: Marco Bertone Mario Bernardi Barry Wordsworth
Rinaldo Alessandrini, harpsichord

Il re pastore, K. 208

(more info)

Performed by: Capella Istropolitana Berlin Symphony Orchestra Freiburg Baroque Orchestra Studio orchestra
Composed by: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Conducted by: Marcus Creed Gottfried von der Goltz Barry Wordsworth George W. Byng
Gabriel Lapierre, piano
Jan Kubelik, violin
Nellie Melba, soprano
Elisabeth Schumann, soprano
Ruth Ziesak, soprano
Marjorie Heyward,
Sandrine Piau, soprano
Recording date: 2 October 1913

Il re pastore, K. 208 - 3:25

Idomeneo re di Creta, K. 366

(more info)

Performed by: Symphony Nova Scotia Capella Istropolitana Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra Dresden Staatskapelle Norwegian National Opera Orchestra
Composed by: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Conducted by: Hans Vonk Mario Bernardi Georg Tintner Barry Wordsworth
Rinaldo Alessandrini, harpsichord
Recording date: 6-9 September 1988

Idomeneo, K. 366 - 4:42

Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail (Abduction from the Seraglio), K. 384

(more info)

Performed by: Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra Heidelberg Symphony Orchestra Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra Mozart Festival Orchestra Philharmonia Cassovia Capella Istropolitana Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra Dresden Staatskapelle Norwegian National Opera Orchestra
Composed by: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Conducted by: Marco Bertone Hans Vonk Thomas Fey Mario Bernardi Josef Krips Johannes Wildner Barry Wordsworth Wilhelm Furtwangler
Rinaldo Alessandrini, harpsichord
Recording date: March 1990

Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail, K. 384 - 5:42

Der Schauspieldirektor (The Impresario), K. 486

(more info)

Performed by: Berlin Deutsches Symphony Orchestra Capella Istropolitana Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra
Composed by: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Neville Marriner
Conducted by: Ferdinand Leitner Mario Bernardi Barry Wordsworth
Barbara Kilduff, soprano
Deon van der Walt, tenor
Gwynne Howell, bass
Noemi Nadelmann, soprano
Edith Wiens, soprano
Lothar Odinius, tenor
Ofelia Sala, soprano
Carsten Sabrowski, bass
Otto Schenk, narrator

Der Schauspieldirektor, K. 486 - 4:50

Le nozze di Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro), K. 492

(more info)

Performed by: Porto National Orchestra Heidelberg Symphony Orchestra Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra Nicolaus Esterhazy Sinfonia Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra Capella Istropolitana West German Radio Symphony Orchestra Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra London Philharmonic Orchestra Dresden Staatskapelle Grande Ecurie et la Chambre du Roy, La Dresden Philharmonic Orchestra Norwegian National Opera Orchestra Paris New Symphony Society Orchestra
Composed by: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Rene Leibowitz
Conducted by: Marc Tardue Gunter Wand Hans Vonk Fritz Busch Thomas Fey Mario Bernardi Jean-Claude Malgoire Rafael Fruhbeck de Burgos Michael Halasz Barry Wordsworth Wilhelm Furtwangler Alfred Scholz
Rinaldo Alessandrini, harpsichord

The Marriage of Figaro, K. 492 - 4:05

Don Giovanni, K. 527

(more info)

Performed by: Capella Istropolitana Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra Glyndebourne Festival Orchestra Dresden Staatskapelle Norwegian National Opera Orchestra
Composed by: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Conducted by: Hans Vonk Fritz Busch Mario Bernardi Barry Wordsworth
Rinaldo Alessandrini, harpsichord
Recording date: 6-9 September 1988

Don Giovanni, K. 527 - 6:10

Cosi fan tutte, K. 588

(more info)

Performed by: Mozart Festival Orchestra Capella Istropolitana Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra Dresden Staatskapelle Norwegian National Opera Orchestra
Composed by: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Conducted by: Marco Bertone Hans Vonk Mario Bernardi Barry Wordsworth
Rinaldo Alessandrini, harpsichord
Recording date: 6-9 September 1988

Cosi fan tutte, K. 588 - 4:54

Die Zauberflote (The Magic Flute), K. 620

(more info)

Performed by: Mozart Festival Orchestra BBC Symphony Orchestra Philharmonia Cassovia Capella Istropolitana West German Radio Symphony Orchestra Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra NBC Symphony Orchestra Failoni Orchestra, Budapest Dresden Staatskapelle Norwegian National Opera Orchestra
Composed by: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Arturo Toscanini
Conducted by: Marco Bertone Gunter Wand Hans Vonk Fritz Busch Mario Bernardi Michael Halasz Johannes Wildner Barry Wordsworth
Rinaldo Alessandrini, harpsichord

The Magic Flute, K. 620 - 6:48

La clemenza di Tito, K. 621

(more info)

Performed by: Mozart Festival Orchestra Philharmonia Cassovia Capella Istropolitana Mannheim Mozart Orchestra Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra Dresden Staatskapelle Norwegian National Opera Orchestra
Composed by: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Conducted by: Marco Bertone Hans Vonk Thomas Fey Mario Bernardi Johannes Wildner Barry Wordsworth
Rinaldo Alessandrini, harpsichord
Recording date: 6-9 September 1988

La clemenza di Tito, K. 621 - 4:36

A Midsummer Night's Dream Overture, Op. 21

(more info)

Performed by: Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra Razumovsky Symphony Orchestra Philharmonia Cassovia Oregon Bach Festival Orchestra Cologne Radio Symphony Orchestra
Composed by: Felix Mendelssohn
Conducted by: Hans Vonk Anthony Bramall Christian Pollack Johannes Wildner Helmuth Rilling Wilhelm Furtwangler

A Midsummer Night's Dream, Op. 21 - 12:19

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Flash 9 required. Click to download.

Composer(s):
Mendelssohn, Felix; Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus

Conductor(s):
Bramall, Anthony; Wordsworth, Barry

Orchestra(s):
Capella Istropolitana; Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra

Label: Naxos Classics
UPC: 730099426121
Item Number: 8553261