The Columbus Symphony performs Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Symphony in C Major, K. 425 Linz; Schubert's Symphony 8, Unfinished, and Dvorak's Symphony 8 in the Ohio Theater February 26 and 27. The Saturday, February 26 performance is broadcast live on Classical101 at 8 PM. The wonderful Gunther Herbig conducts. What did you do on your honeymoon? What Mozart and his wife Constanze did not do was travel from Vienna to Salzburg in order introduce the Missis to her imperious new father in law and her husband's disapproving sister. The crippling emotional dependence of son to father has been widely discussed. Mozart was well aware that his family thought of Constanze as decidedly low-rent. Who wouldn't postpone such a journey? One year and one baby later the excuses ran out. The Mozarts set off for Salzburg and it was a cold family reception indeed. A stop in Linz on the way home filled Mozart's purse and no doubt buoyed his spirits. Mozart looked up two friends: Michael Haydn, kid brother of his beloved mentor, and the local bon vivant the Count Thun. His Worship was a Mozart fan and immediately offered his court orchestra if a new symphony could be produced in a few days. On October 30, 1783, Mozart set to work, and on November 4 he conducted Count Thun's orchestra in the first performance of his Symphony 36 in C, the "Linz". [caption id="attachment_20351" align="alignright" width="150" caption="Constanze Mozart (1762-1842) Low rent?"][/caption] If Mozart arrived in Linz frustrated and sad, he left on top of his game. The Linz is both deliciously entertaining and muscular. There's no self pity, nothing, but the joy of a young husband on his way home to Vienna, the capital of his world: [audio: http://wosu.org/audio/classical/2011/LINZ FOR BLOG.mp3] We don't know why Franz Schubert left his b minor symphony "Unfinished". In 1823, the composer was given an 'honorary certificate' (alas, not worth the paper...) by the Graz Society of the Friends of Music. [caption id="attachment_20347" align="alignright" width="150" caption="Franz Schubert (1797-1828)"]
[/caption] It was expected that the award recipient bring a new work for the society-reverse payola. Schubert brought what he had most handy, two movements of a symphony in b minor. Why write something new for bupkis? Schubert took up the trend set by Beethoven writing music that was both emotional and encouraging of introspection. Music was moving away from the nobility's entertainment to being a 'photograph' of a broad public. Emotion and introspection were IN. But Schubert remained the supreme melodist of his time. In his lied Die Forelle (The Trout) not only do you hear hear the fish rippling away, you SEE the fish rippling away [audio: http://wosu.org/audio/classical/2011/FORELLE.mp3] The Unfinished not only remained incomplete it remained unperformed. The score was found in a attic in1865, nearly thirty-five years after the composer's death. The premiere gave the world a symphonic torso and a new journey from darkness to light: [audio: http://wosu.org/audio/classical/2011/UNFINISHED FOR BLOG.mp3] [caption id="attachment_20349" align="alignright" width="122" caption="Antonin Dvorak (1841-1904) Earthy..."]
[/caption] And so to Antonin Dvorak. I've said that Mozart seemed incapable of expressing violence in is music. Passion, fear, love, sex, joy yes, but no violence. Pain wasn't part of Dvorak's vocabulary either. He was usually the exception to the mid to late 19th century trend. Dvorak loved folk music. His music is vibrant with melody and dance rhythms. This is earthy music. It's superbly crafted but you can smell both the spring air and the horse manure. "Melodies poured out of me", Dvorak said. [audio: http://wosu.org/audio/classical/2011/DVORAK 1 BLOG.mp3] That was a bit form the first movement (allegro con brio). Here's part of the luscious waltz of the third (allegretto grazioso molto vivace) [audio: http://wosu.org/audio/classical/2011/DVORAK 3 BLOG.mp3] Critics have called the eighth symphony "Dvorak's Pastorale". It is not always serene and it is not always joyful, but you can hear the Czech people who might never find themselves in a concert hall. Dvorak was writing music that reflected the rural life he loved â a life of work, nature, sex, dirt, and song.
