Mozart

[Herman]

Been listening a lot to 614 lately. What a beautiful piece of music.

[snyprrr]

I've been making slow progress on the last 10 SQs. It's just that they are so dense, and longer than anything comparable (Haydn, Boccherini, Pleyel, etc...). I've been systematically breaking them down, and hearing things now that I never heard before (funny how that happens).

I was listening to the last one, 590, last night, and really listening, and I heard this exchange (in the first mvmt., I believe) that ended with the stereotypical musical figure that is used for "laughing" (ha-ha-ha... down the chromatic scale); but, instead of being cheesy or anything, it was just so poignant. Mozart's emotion is the thing that I notice between him and, say, Haydn. The lines of his music really are people, characters, with human emotions, which I can't say I hear in any of the other SQs of the era.

The slow mvmts. of 428 and 458 have also surfaced as the most placid depictions of what a truely awesome slow mvmt. should be, especially I like 458.

Plus, I've just been grooving on that floating type harmony he uses with those slithering chromatic runs that make everything sound like a garden! I keep imagining the flick of his pen on the paper, when I hear a little flourish, how it seems to come stream of consciousness at times.

One thing that has bothered me, though, is, some of his endings. Sometimes they just peeter out, or there seems to be an "oh, well" ending, or, it just ends. I've mentioned this before, but I keep noticing it, and it keeps making me go, "huh."

[listener]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MOZART

It's the birthday of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, born in Salzburg, Austria (1756). His whole life was devoted to music. He was a child prodigy: by the time he was five he could perform difficult pieces on both piano and violin. He made a name for himself as a composer when he was in his teens, and he went on to write some of the most popular operas of all time, including The Marriage of Figaro (1786), Don Giovanni (1787), and The Magic Flute (1791).

Mozart spent most of his adult life in Vienna, and made a living by teaching, publishing music, giving concerts, and composing. He was always pretty well off for a musician — he had a carriage and servants, and lived in a nice apartment — but he spent money faster than he made it, and he often had to borrow from friends and relatives. He stayed close to his father throughout his life, and when his father died, Mozart fell into a deep depression. He stopped performing in public and relied on teaching to make ends meet.

He died four years later, at the age of 35, while he was in the middle of composing his last piece, Requiem in D, which he wrote as his own funeral march.

       a reminder from The Writer's Almanac

The Writer's Almanac is produced by Prairie Home Productions and presented by American Public Media.

[Franco]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MOZART

It's the birthday of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, born in Salzburg, Austria (1756). His whole life was devoted to music. He was a child prodigy: by the time he was five he could perform difficult pieces on both piano and violin. He made a name for himself as a composer when he was in his teens, and he went on to write some of the most popular operas of all time, including The Marriage of Figaro (1786), Don Giovanni (1787), and The Magic Flute (1791).

Mozart spent most of his adult life in Vienna, and made a living by teaching, publishing music, giving concerts, and composing. He was always pretty well off for a musician — he had a carriage and servants, and lived in a nice apartment — but he spent money faster than he made it, and he often had to borrow from friends and relatives. He stayed close to his father throughout his life, and when his father died, Mozart fell into a deep depression. He stopped performing in public and relied on teaching to make ends meet.

He died four years later, at the age of 35, while he was in the middle of composing his last piece, Requiem in D, which he wrote as his own funeral march.

       a reminder from The Writer's Almanac

The Writer's Almanac is produced by Prairie Home Productions and presented by American Public Media.

That's just what "they" want you to believe. 

[Gurn Blanston]

That's just what "they" want you to believe.

Well yes, they DO want you to believe that. Oddly, there are quite a few factoids of the mythological variety in that statement, but overall we'll go with it, if only to piss off Newman and Tobago...

Herzlichen Glückwunsch zu Ihrem Geburtstag, Wolfgangerl!

[snyprrr]

Didn't the Quartetto Italiano have the "Early Quartets" on a seperate release from the bigger box? I could have sworn I'd seen it.

If not, who does one like in the EarlySQs?

[Gurn Blanston]

Didn't the Quartetto Italiano have the "Early Quartets" on a seperate release from the bigger box? I could have sworn I'd seen it.

If not, who does one like in the EarlySQs?

I have the Talich on Calliope, I rather like it. 3 disks, includes the non-orchestral versions of K 136-138 and K 525 (quintet with Baß). Modern instruments, I'm afraid, but I never ran across one made using gut strings. It is a modestly modern recording (early 1990's) so they are not oblivious to performance trends.

[Scarpia]

Didn't the Quartetto Italiano have the "Early Quartets" on a seperate release from the bigger box? I could have sworn I'd seen it.

If not, who does one like in the EarlySQs?

I've only seen the Italiano in the Complete Mozart edition box. 

I like these a lot, for early and late quartets:



Not tame, very energetic, and the price is right.

[Opus106]

The following is quoted from the Wikipedia page on K. 183, Mozart's symphony numbered 25.

The opening rising arpeggiated sequence was quoted by Beethoven in his first Piano Sonata as the principal subject of the first movement.

Isn't it usually said that the opening of the sonata is similar to the other G minor, rather than this one?

[Lethevich]

This makes my head hurt. Why do some symphonies have multiple K numbers? Is this something that a new catalogue edition could fix if they change the prefix so there are no duplicates (maybe to KN? - Neu Köchel), or does it reflect different versions/movements used or something (I believe some of the symphonies have alternate movements amongst all the scraps)?

The reason I care - when tagging music files, could I just call it K.161, or does it need all that other stuff?

Edit: this one reads like a chemical recipe -

[Gurn Blanston]

This makes my head hurt. Why do some symphonies have multiple K numbers? Is this something that a new catalogue edition could fix if they change the prefix so there are no duplicates (maybe to KN? - Neu Köchel), or does it reflect different versions/movements used or something (I believe some of the symphonies have alternate movements amongst all the scraps)?

The reason I care - when tagging music files, could I just call it K.161, or does it need all that other stuff?

Edit: this one reads like a chemical recipe -

If you are only going to use 1 number (and why not?) then use the last one (in this case, K 141a), since this is the number given by the most recent Köchel catalog and thus the most chronologically correct number. I have that particular piece marked as "K 141a_161_163 Symphony in D". FYI, the reason for having 2 numbers from K1 are because the first 2 movements (K 161) are modified from the overture to the opera "Il Sogno di Scipio" which he got together in March of 1772, while the 3rd movement finale was composed in October 1772 in Milan, thus it is K 163. I know, bizarro, but there it is.



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Listening to:
Wiener Philharmoniker / Schmidt-Isserstedt - Beethoven Op 125 Symphony #9 in d 4th mvmt - Presto, "O Freunde, Nicht Diese Töne!", Allegro assai

[Opus106]

FYI, the reason for having 2 numbers from K1 are because the first 2 movements (K 161) are modified from the overture to the opera "Il Sogno di Scipio" which he got together in March of 1772, while the 3rd movement finale was composed in October 1772 in Milan, thus it is K 163.

Wouldn't it better to use the P. numbers from the Pastiche catalogue?

[Gurn Blanston]

Edit: this one reads like a chemical recipe -

Oh yes, well in this case you have something entirely different. The first number (Anh(ang) C11.03) is the most recent number in Köchel. Anhang means "appendix". Works in the appendix are either known to not be by Mozart or else not at all known who wrote them but they have been attributed at some time in history. In K6, symphonies are placed into appendix C11, and it is the third one on the list. That is the number to use. Now the other numbers parse thusly; Anh.216 is the K1 number. Köchel himself didn't think Mozart wrote it so he put it in the appendix which at that time didn't have those sections, it was just the 216th work in there (so to speak, there were certainly numbers not used, but you get my drift). Finally K3=74g. The editor of the third edition of Köchel, Alfred Einstein, thought that it was authentic and so he moved it to the main body of that edition. It was 74g because chronologically it fit in between 74 & 75, one of 30 or so works that were eventually crammed into that space. Chances are that Einstein was wrong, although who knows? Something definitive could still arise and we could prove one way or the other what the true authorship is.

See, it isn't that hard, and makes perfect sense...

[Gurn Blanston]

Wouldn't it better to use the P. numbers from the Pastiche catalogue?

Well no, Robert, it isn't a pastiche, it's clever and prudent recycling...

[Opus106]

Well no, Robert, it isn't a pastiche, it's clever and prudent recycling...

Ah, I see.

-
G¹=Robert/Navneeth

[Gurn Blanston]

Ah, I see.

-
G¹=Robert/Navneeth

Well, almost. One of R. Newman's favorite topics was pastiche concertos, you reminded me of him.



----------------
Listening to:
New York PO / Sinopoli - Resphigi Fountains of Rome pt 1

[Opus106]

Well, almost. One of R. Newman's favorite topics was pastiche concertos, you reminded me of him.

Well, being a Mozart fan -- or follower of the cult, or whatever -- I consider that as a downright insult. 

[Gurn Blanston]

Well, being a Mozart fan -- or follower of the cult, or whatever -- I consider that as a downright insult. 

Naa, you know what a clumsy git I am with words.



----------------
Listening to:
New York PO / Sinopoli - Resphigi Pines of Rome pt 1

[Lethevich]

If you are only going to use 1 number (and why not?) then use the last one (in this case, K 141a), since this is the number given by the most recent Köchel catalog and thus the most chronologically correct number.

Danke - the last number seems great now I know what it means. Your other details were very interesting - ta!

[Lethevich]

Sorry, one more question. Does this layout mean this was "rediscovered", slotted into the catalogue, then found to be spurious and removed?