Mozart: Don Giovanni (Highlights)

In the summer of 1781 Mozart described his new home Vienna as 'the land of the piano'. He soon set about presenting his own subscription concerts, offering the three newly-composed concertos on this disc for publication 'either with a large orchestra.

Mozart married Constanze Weber in 1782, and it is thanks to her diligent curation of ‘these marvellousrelics’ that we have these rarely heard fragments including fugues which reveal the influence of Bach anddemonstrate Mozart’s agility with sophisticated contrapuntal techniques. The more substantial Rondoshave gained popularity with their memorable themes and musical depth, while forays into Baroque stylecan be heard in the unfinished Suite. These, the improvisational Fantasias and a mocking parody of aFuneral March all highlight neglected facets of Mozart’s oeuvre.

The tour starts in northern Italy in Mantua and moves to Cremona and Milan, as well as Sicily. Included is music by Mozart.

The Places: The tour relates to the life of Mozart, from his native Salzburg to his final precarious independence in Vienna. There are glimpse of the Salzburg Church of St Peter and of the Cathedral, with which Mozart and his father, members of the musical establishment of the ruling Prince-Archbishops of Salzburg, were closely concerned. Memorials of Mozart and other composers are seen in Vienna, while a brief detour to Belgium to the idiosyncratic Mus�e Wiertz and to the Tournai Mus�e des Beaux Arts, brings another aspect to the journey. The Music: Mozart's Requiem Mass was commissioned anonymously in July 1791 by Count Franz Walsegg zu Stuppach, who sought to commemorate the recent death of his wife by the performance of a work of this kind that he might, at least by implication, claim as his own. An initial fee of sixty ducats was paid, with promise of a further sum when the Requiem was completed. But in November Mozart was taken ill and within a fortnight he was dead. His widow, Constanze, who needed the rest of the fee for the work, asked Joseph Eybler, who had assisted Mozart in rehearsals for Cose fan tutte, to finish the composition and the scoring. He later gave up the task and the unfinished score finally came into the hands of Franz Xaver S�ssmayr, so that the best known form of the Requiem is that started by Mozart, continued briefly by Eybler and completed by S�ssmayr.

The Places - Northern Italy has been variously ruled, over the centuries. South Tyrol, seen here, retains much of it's Austrian past, with some regions predominantly German-speaking and others Italian. Scenes are shown of Brixen (Bressanone), with it's Cathedral and Bishop's Palace, and various historic castles, including Castel Tirolo. The Music - Music for the tour is by Mozart, with two Piano Concertos, one written in Salzburg in 1777 for a visiting French pianist and the other composed during the last year of Mozart's life, at the end of a decade spent in independence in Vienna.

The youngest child and only surviving son of Leopold Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus was born in Salzburg in 1756, the year of publication of his father's treatise on violin-playing. He showed early precocity both as a keyboard-player and violinist, and soon turned his hand to composition. His obvious gifts were developed under his father's tutelage, with those of his elder sister, and the family, through the indulgence of their then patron, the Archbishop of Salzburg, was able to travel abroad, between 1763 and 1766, to Paris and to London. A series of other journeys followed, with important operatic commissions in Italy between 1771 and 1773. The following period proved disappointing to both father and son, as the young Mozart grew to manhood, irked by the lack of opportunity and lack of appreciation of his gifts in Salzburg, where a new Archbishop proved less sympathetic. A visit to Munich, Mannheim and Paris in 1777 and 1778 brought no substantial offer of other employment and by early 1779 Mozart was reinstated in Salzburg, now as court organist. Early in 1781 he had a commissioned opera, Idomeneo, staged in Munich for the Elector of Bavaria, and dissatisfaction after being summoned to attend his patron the Archbishopin Vienna led to his dismissal. Mozart spent the last ten years of his life in precarious independence in Vienna, his material situation not improved by a marriage imprudent for one in his circumstances. Initial success with German and then Italian opera and series of subscription concerts were followed by financial difficulties. In 1791 things seemed to have taken a turn for the better, in spite of the lack of interest of the successor to the Emperor Joseph II, who had died in 1790. In late November, however, Mozart became seriously ill and died in the small hours of 5 December. Mozart's compositions were catalogued in the 19th century by K�chel, and they are generally now distinguished by K. numbering from this catalogue. Mozart's sonatas for the fortepiano cover a period from 1766 to 1791, with a significant number of mature sonatas written during the years in Vienna. The sonatas include much fine music. In addition to his sonatas he wrote a number of sets of variations, while his ephemeral improvisations in similar form are inevitably lost to us. The published works include operatic variations as well as a set of variations on the theme Ah, vous dirai-je, ma man, known in English as 'Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star'. An outstanding virtuoso pianist himself, and bearing in mind that his sonatas and variations pose substantial technical challenges-not least in order to ensure that they sound completely effortless and perfectly poised-Mozart played so that the notes 'simply fell as if they were raindrops, scattering like pearls on velvet', in Carl Czerny's memorable words. Like those precious jewels, Mozart's piano music shimmers, glows and rarely fails to delight with it's subtle, sophisticated magic.

MOZART: Symphonies Nos. 38, "Prague" and 40

Mozart, W.A.: Zaide [Opera]

Mozart, W.A.: Violin Sonatas Nos. 18-23

Guitar (Greatest Works)

MOZART: Symphonies Nos. 40 and 41

Mozart, W.A.: Piano Trio No. 4 / Divertimento, K. 254 / Schu

Mozart, W.A.: Piano Concertos Nos. 17, 18, 19, 25

Mozart, W.A.: Sonata for 2 Pianos, K. 448 / Rachmaninov, S.: