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Featured
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Viotti/Mozart cdc 010
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Mozart
was an artist in the fullest sense of the term. Both dissolute
and a genius he was able to reconcile opposites: the objective
and the subjective, artistic purity and human reality, the
levity of melodies and depth of thought, the absolute and
the relative. He passed easily from comic music which was
apparently shallow to music of much greater complexity and
of great artistic merit. For Mozart every musical form was
an opportunity for the experience of inspiration and amusement.
He could do everything and he did everything well. He was
an organist, a pianist, a harpsichord player, a violinist,
a conductor - |
everything
he did was done with extraordinary talent. During his concert tours,
which were held all over Eurospe, he never failed to astonish those
who heard him. Such was the case in Munich, Frankfurt, Brussels,
Aquisgrana, Paris, London, Prague, and Italy.
Mozart achieved
success very quickly - thirty-five years of life would suffice to
raise his name to the heights of musical history. These thirty-five
years were marked by difficulties, incomprehension, joys, and bitterness.
An epoch would finish with the death of Mozart. Eurospe was already
shaken by upheavals and music was taking part in the changes which
were then underway. After the passing of Mozart, it was Beethoven
who would express to the full the figure of the musician who composes
for himself and not for other people.
Chronology:
1756
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Born
(27 January) in Salzburg, the son of Johann Leopold and Anna
Maria Pertl (1720-78). |
1761
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First
composition - a minuet and trio for pianoforte. |
1763
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Goes
to Paris where he stays for five months. His first sonatas
for violin and pianoforte. |
1764
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Goes
to London where he stays for fifteen months. He meets Karl
Friedrich Abel and Johann Christian Bach. He writes his first
symphony (E flat major K16). |
1769
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On
14 November he is appointed third maestro of concerts (unpaid)
at the Salzburg court. In December he starts on the first
of his three trips to Italy. In Rome he receives the order
of the "Sperone d'Oro" from Pope XIV in person. |
1770
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On
5 January he performs his first concert in Italy at the Accademia
Filarmonica of Vienna. He receives lessons in counterpoint
from Padre Martini. Giuseppe Tartini
dies on 26 February. Beethoven is born on 17 December. |
1778
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On
3 July his mother dies. In December the Teatro della Scala
in Milan opens in Milan. |
1779
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The
singer Aloisa Weber rejects his offer of marriage. He returns
to Vienna and enters the service of the Archbishop of that
city as maestro of concerts and court organist. |
1781
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On
10 May he resigns his post with the Archbishop. |
1782
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Marries
Constanze Weber after eloping with her because of her father's
strong opposition. On 27 October Nicoḷ
Paganini is born. |
1783
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He
meets Gluck. |
1785
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A
very active professional life with concerts and activity in
musical academies. He becomes a "companion" - the
second rung in the order of freemasons. He meets Haydn. Refused
admission to the Society of Musicians. |
1786
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Finishes
"Le Nozze di Figaro" which is then performed at
the Burgtheater on 1 May. |
1787
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On
28 May Leopold Mozart dies aged sixty-eight. On 29 October
"Il Dissoluto Punito Ossia il Don Giovanni" is performed
for the first time, in Prague, and is received with enthusiasm. |
1790
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On
26 January "Cosi fan Tutte Ossia la Scuola degli Amanti"
is put on for the first time, at the Burgtheater. Mozart's
financial problems worsen. |
1791
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He
performs for the last time in public - the concerto for pianoforte
K595. In May he begins work on "Die Zauberflote"
(The Magic Flute) a German opera which in July he interrupts
to write "La Clemenza di Tito", a work which he
finishes on 5 September and which is performed in Prague the
next day. In September he finishes "Die Zauberflote".
On 20 November he falls ill and is confined to bed. On 4 December
he tries out his "Requiem" - a work he would never
complete. On 5 December he dies at one o'clock in the morning.
His funeral is that of a poor man and is attended by a few
close relatives and friends. His coffin is placed in the common
grave at the cemetery of S. Marco in Vienna. |
©
P&P - Promozione e Produzione, Rome.
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