I must give credit where credit is due, to teacherken, for being first past the post on DK with a Mozart diary on the 250th anniversary of Wolfie's birth,
here. Just in time for your weekend, here's the second, which qualifies as the most frivolous DK diary of the day (if not ever). I'm fully aware that given all of the planet's headaches, this is not at all "useful" for saving the world right now from the domestic thugs who will not be named, because I do not want to sully Mozart's name by putting those other people's names with his in the same tortuous run-on sentence. However, everyone needs a break now and then, and here, Mozart will do. This diary qualifies as a spiritual recharge from worldly stresses, nothing more.
In this concert season of 2005-2006 and probably into 2006-2007, the 250th anniversary of Mozart's birth, classical music organizations everywhere are pulling out the stops to celebrate the Man from Salzburg, born Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgang Theophilus Mozart. Even with all of classical music's marginalization in culture generally, Mozart's symphonies, concertos, the occasional string quartet, and operas still resound all over the world. To pick one small pattern of concert programming: I've noted is a fairly high number of performances around the world that feature Mozart's last three symphonies in a single concert:
Symphony No. 39 in E flat major, K. (Kochel catalog) 549
Symphony No. 40 in G minor, K. 550
Symphony No. 41 in C major, K. 551 ("Jupiter" - the nickname wasn't by him)
These are definitely his most popular symphonies, with players, conductors, and audiences, not to mention box office / bean counter types in orchestras. What's sad is that as far as we can tell, he did not hear these pieces played by real people, with the possible exception of No. 39, because it exists in two versions. No one seems to be 100% sure why he wrote them. The most likely guess is that he wrote them on commission for series of concerts, but this putative series fell through and never took place. If you read German, you might like this article from the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra.
From using the lazy person's search tool (Google), here's a list of some world-wide listings of concerts with this program. Several of them have already passed (so those links may be down), but I've put reviews for those who care (all 0.46 of you):
Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique; John Eliot Gardiner, Artistic Director and Conductor
(1) Saturday, January 14, 2006, 8:00 PM, Walt Disney Concert Hall, Los Angeles, CA (review of the concert here
(2) Sunday, January 15, 2006, 7 PM, San Francisco, CA, Davies Hall (review of the concert here
(3) Wednesday, January 18, 8:00 PM, Orchestra Hall, Chicago, IL (reviews here and here
(4) Monday, January 23, 2006, 8:00 PM, Lincoln Center, NYC, Alice Tully Hall (review here)
Getting away from Gardiner and his band:
(5) Columbus Symphony Orchestra (USA): Saturday, January 21; Sunday, January 22
Günther Herbig, Conductor
These ones are coming up:
(6) Manchester Camerata (UK): Manchester Camerata, conducted by Douglas Boyd
Wed., 1 Feb. 2006, 7.30 pm, Stafford Gatehouse Theatre
Thurs., 2 Feb. 2006, 7.30 pm, The Coronation Hall, Ulverston
Fri., 3 Feb. 2006, 7:30 pm, Sheffield City Hall
Sat., 4 Feb. 2006, 7.30pm, The Bridgewater Hall
Sun. 5 Feb. 2006, 7.30pm, The Muni, Colne
(7) New York Philharmonic: The Magic of Mozart Festival III, Avery Fisher Hall, Lincoln Center
Thur, Feb 9, 2006, 7:30 PM
Fri, Feb 10, 2006, 2:00 PM
Sat, Feb 11, 2006, 8:00 PM
Tues, Feb 14, 2006, 7:30 PM
(8) Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra:
Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra
Roberto Abbado, conductor
(a) Friday 4/21/06 (10:30 AM), Saturday 4/22/06 (8 PM)
Ordway Music Center, St. Paul, MN
(b) SPCO at the University of Chicago
Sunday, 23 April 2006, 3:00 PM
(9) Saarbrucken Radio Symphony Orchestra (for Kossacks in Germany)
Wednesday, 27 April, 2006, 20:00
Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Saarbrücken
Günther Herbig, conductor
(This cannot be the only place in Germany in 2006 where this program is being done, so I'd be curious to learn of other concerts there from our German-inclined contingent.)
(10) Hong Kong Philharmonic (are there Kossacks in Hong Kong?):
Saturday, 17 June 2006, 8:00 PM
Mozart in the City: The Last Three Symphonies
Edo de Waart, conductor
(11) Mahler Chamber Orchestra (on tour in Japan)
Mahler Chamber Orchestra
Daniel Harding, conductor
Friday, 6 October 2006: Tokyo Opera City, Tokyo
Saturday, 7 October 2006: Sagimihara
Monday, 9 October 2006: Fukuoka
(12) Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra
Tuesday, 5 December 2006
Sir Simon Rattle, conductor
Theater an der Wien
The fact that, discounting the circumstance that one orchestra is on tour with this program in several cities, several different orchestras are giving the same program around the same time makes one wonder: do orchestra programmers really have that little imagination? Sure, one can say "great minds think alike" here, to a degree, but orchestras these days are really not known for forward, up-to-date thinking, unless you're in charge of an ensemble that focuses on contemporary music specifically. The same 100 or so pieces occur over and over again in orchestral programming, these three symphonies well among them. It's sad to realize that a lot of concert programs by orchestras now resemble ones from a century ago. Upon thinking about it, though, this kind of mirrors in "high art" the same homogenizing trends that we see in popular culture, like movie sequels and imitations, TV series spin-offs, and knowing that your (un)favorite media monopoly plays the same songs on all their stations all over the country.
That's the harsher view. More practically speaking, and taking into account that orchestras consist of people, not machines, there are other reasons to play these works so often:
- Because orchestras are familiar with these symphonies, rehearsals can be fairly quick.
- Audiences likewise know the pieces, or at least recognize fragments from each work pretty easily.
- Mozart is a name audiences know, so marketing rears its ugly but necessary head. (Same with Beethoven and Tchaikovsky.)
But of course, I left out the one key reason, in spite of any cynicism about classical music's conservative tastes and lack of adventure: these symphonies are great music. Classical musicians love to play Mozart's music, and audiences love to hear it. Early Mozart can be so much sonic wallpaper, but the best of Mozart is more complicated than it seems. It also reminds you that harmonically "easy" music can be rich to hear as well, both in "classical" and in "popular" forms. These symphonies fortunately have lasted for over 200 years, and if we take care of ourselves and the planet well enough, they'll go on, hopefully, as long as classical music lasts. Some of the recent flood of Mozart articles include ones from
The Globe and Mail and
The San Francisco Chronicle.