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On the reception of the opera, Mozart scholar Maynard Solomon writes:
The success of The Magic Flute lifted the spirits of its composer, who had fallen ill while in Prague a few weeks before. Solomon continues:
The opera celebrated its 100th performance in November 1792. Mozart did not have the pleasure of witnessing this milestone, having died of his illness on 5 December 1791.
Since its premiere, The Magic Flute has always been one of the most beloved works in the operatic repertoire, and is presently the eighth most frequently performed opera in North America.
The Magic Flute is noted for its prominent Masonic elements; Schikaneder and Mozart were Masons and lodge brothers (see: Mozart and Freemasonry). The opera is also influenced by Enlightenment philosophy, and can be regarded as an allegory advocating enlightened absolutism. The Queen of the Night represents a dangerous form of obscurantism or, according to some interpreters, contemporary Roman Catholicism. Her antagonist Sarastro symbolises the enlightened sovereign who rules according to principles based on reason, wisdom, and nature. The story itself portrays the education of mankind, progressing from chaos through religious superstition to rationalistic enlightenment, by means of trial (Tamino) and error (Papageno), ultimately to make "the Earth a heavenly kingdom, and mortals like the gods" ("Dann ist die Erd' ein Himmelreich, und Sterbliche den Göttern gleich." This couplet is sung in the finales to both acts.)
The opera was the culmination of a period of increasing involvement by Mozart with Schikaneder's theatrical troupe, which since 1789 had been the resident company at the Theater auf der Wieden. Mozart was a close friend of one of the singer-composers of the troupe, tenor Benedikt Schack (the first Tamino), and had contributed to the compositions of the troupe, which were often collaboratively written. Mozart's participation increased with his contributions to the 1790 collaborative opera Der Stein der Weisen (The Philosopher's Stone), including the duet ("Nun liebes Weibchen," K. 625/592a) and perhaps other passages. Like The Magic Flute, Der Stein der Weisen was a fairy-tale opera and can be considered a kind of precursor; it employed much the same cast in similar roles.
Mozart evidently wrote keeping in mind the skills of the singers intended for the premiere, which included both virtuosi and ordinary comic actors, asked to sing for the occasion. Thus, the vocal lines for Papageno and Monostatos are often stated first in the strings so the singer can find his pitch, and are frequently doubled by instruments. In contrast, Mozart's sister-in-law Josepha Hofer, who premiered the role of the Queen of the Night, evidently needed little such help: this role is famous for its difficulty. In ensembles, Mozart skillfully combined voices of different ability levels.
A particularly demanding aria is the Queen of the Night's "Der Hölle Rache kocht in meinem Herzen" ("The vengeance of Hell boils in my heart"), which reaches a high F6 (see Scientific pitch notation), rare in opera. At the low end, the part of Sarastro includes a conspicuous F in a few locations.
On 28 December 1791, 3½ weeks after Mozart's death, his widow Constanze offered to send a manuscript score of The Magic Flute to the electoral court in Bonn. Nikolaus Simrock published this text in the first full-score edition (Bonn, 1814), claiming that it was "in accordance with Mozart's own wishes" (Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung, 13 September 1815).
While the female roles in the opera are assigned to different voice types, the playbill for the premiere performance referred to all of the female singers as "sopranos". The casting of the roles relies on the actual pitch range of the part.
These singers perform with an orchestra consisting of two flutes (one doubling on piccolo), two oboes, two clarinets (doubling basset horns), two bassoons, two horns, two trumpets, three trombones (alto, tenor, and bass), timpani and strings. The work also requires a four-part chorus for several numbers (notably the finales of each act); and a glockenspiel to perform the music of Papageno's magic bells.
After the Overture, we are introduced to Tamino, a handsome prince who is lost in a distant land and is being pursued by a serpent (Quartet: "Zu Hilfe! Zu Hilfe!") . He faints from fatigue and three ladies, attendants of the Queen of the Night, appear and kill the serpent. They find the unconscious prince extremely attractive, and each tries to convince the other two to leave, in order to be alone with him. After arguing, they decide that it is best that they all leave together.
Tamino recovers, and Papageno enters, arrayed entirely in the plumage of birds. He sings of his job as a bird catcher and the fact that he is longing for a wife, or, at least, a girlfriend (Aria: "Der Vogelfänger bin ich ja"). Papageno tells Tamino that he, Papageno, strangled the serpent with his bare hands. At this moment, the three ladies appear and punish his lie by placing a padlock over his mouth. They tell Tamino that they were responsible for saving him, and show to the prince a portrait of a young maiden, Pamina, with whom he falls instantly in love (Aria: "Dies Bildnis ist bezaubernd schön" / "This image is enchantingly lovely, Like no eye has ever beheld!").
(1781–1841) for an 1815 production]] The Queen of the Night now appears. She tells Tamino that the girl in the portrait, Pamina, is her daughter, who has been captured by her enemy, Sarastro. She demands that Tamino go to Sarastro's temple and rescue Pamina, promising that he can marry Pamina in return. (Recitative and aria: "O zittre nicht, mein lieber Sohn" / "Oh, tremble not, my dear son! You are innocent, wise, pious"). After the Queen leaves, the ladies give Tamino a magic flute that can change men's hearts, remove the padlock from Papageno, and present him with a chime of bells to protect him. Papageno is ordered to accompany Tamino on his rescue-mission, and together they set forth. (Quintet: "Hm hm hm hm"). The ladies introduce three child-spirits, who will guide Tamino and Papageno to Sarastro's temple.
Scene 2: A room in Sarastro's palace
Pamina is dragged in by Sarastro's moorish slave Monostatos. (Trio: "Du feines Täubchen, nun herein!") Papageno, sent ahead by Tamino to help find Pamina, enters. Monostatos and Papageno are each terrified by the other's strange appearance and both flee the stage. But Papageno soon returns and announces to Pamina that her mother has sent Tamino to her aid. Pamina rejoices to hear that Tamino is in love with her, and then offers sympathy and hope to Papageno, who longs for a wife to love. Together they sing an ode to love (Duet: "Bei Männern welche Liebe fühlen"), then depart.
Scene 3: Grove and entrance to the temples
The three child-spirits lead Tamino to Sarastro's temple, promising that if he remains faithful and steadfast, he will succeed in rescuing Pamina. As Tamino reaches the temple, he is denied entrance at two of its three gates, by invisible voices singing "Go back!". But when he tries the third gate, an old priest appears and gradually convinces him that Sarastro is benevolent, not evil, and that women's opinions should not be taken seriously. After the priest leaves him, Tamino plays his magic flute in hopes of summoning Pamina and Papageno. The tones of his magical instrument summon a group of magically tamed beasts, which listen in rapture to his music. Then Tamino hears Papageno's pipes, which Papageno, offstage, is blowing in response to the sound of Tamino's flute. Ecstatic at the thought of meeting Pamina, Tamino hurries off.
Papageno appears with Pamina, following the distant sound of Tamino's flute. The two are suddenly captured by Monostatos and his slaves. Papageno then works an enchantment on the slaves using his magic bells, and they dance, mesmerised by the music of the bells, off the stage.
Papageno now hears the approach of Sarastro and his large retinue. He is frightened and asks Pamina what they should say. She answers that they must tell the truth. Sarastro and his followers enter.
Overcome by Sarastro's majesty, Pamina falls at his feet and confesses that she was trying to escape because Monostatos had demanded her love. Sarastro receives her kindly and tells her that he will not force her inclinations, but cannot give her freedom nor return her to her mother, because she must be guided by a man.
Monostatos then enters with Tamino captive. The two lovers see one another for the first time and instantly embrace, causing indignation among Sarastro's followers. Monostatos tries to point the finger of blame at Tamino. Sarastro, however, punishes Monostatos for his lustful intentions toward Pamina, and leads Tamino and Papageno into the temple of ordeal. The Brotherhood send them off in a glorious chorus.
The council of priests of Isis and Osiris, headed by Sarastro, enters to the sound of a solemn march. They determine that Tamino and Pamina shall be married, and that Tamino will succeed Sarastro as leader, if he succeeds in passing the priests' trials. Sarastro explains that the Queen of the Night has attempted to bewilder the people with superstition and groundless fears. He then sings a prayer to the gods Isis and Osiris, asking them to protect Tamino and Pamina and to take them into their heavenly dwelling place should they die in the course of their trials (Aria: "O Isis und Osiris").
Scene 5: The courtyard of the temple of Ordeal
Tamino and Papageno are led into the temple. A priest cautions Tamino that this is his last chance to turn back, but Tamino boldly promises that he will undergo every trial to win his Pamina. Papageno declines the trials at first, saying that he doesn't care much about wisdom or enlightenment, and only wants food, wine, and a pretty woman. The priest tells Papageno that Sarastro may have a woman for him if he undergoes the trials, and that she is called Papagena. Reluctantly, Papageno agrees to undergo the trials.
The first test requires that Tamino and Papageno remain silent while being tempted and threatened by women. (Short duet by two priests: "Bewahret euch von Weibertücken") The three ladies appear, and tempt them to speak. (Quintet: "Wie, wie, wie") Papageno cannot resist answering the ladies, but Tamino remains aloof, speaking only to Papageno, and then only to tell him to shut up. Seeing that Tamino will not speak to them, the ladies withdraw in confusion.
One priest congratulates Tamino for successfully passing the first test. Another priest scolds Papageno for his weakness, and tells him that he will never know the enlightened bliss of the gods. Papageno replies that there are a great many people in the world like himself, unenlightened but happy, and asks why he must undergo tests if Sarastro already has a woman selected for him. The priest says that it is the only way.
Scene 6: A garden, Pamina asleep
Monostatos approaches and gazes upon Pamina with rapture. (Aria: "Alles fühlt der Liebe Freuden") He is about to kiss her sleeping face, when the Queen of the Night appears and frightens him away. She wakes Pamina and gives her a dagger, ordering her to kill Sarastro with it. (Aria: "Der Hölle Rache kocht in meinem Herzen" / "Hell's vengeance boileth in mine heart"). After she leaves, Monostatos returns and tries to force Pamina's love by threatening to reveal the murder-plot, but Sarastro enters and drives him off. Sarastro forgives and comforts Pamina (Aria: "In diesen heil'gen Hallen").
Scene 7: A hall in the temple of Ordeal
Tamino and Papageno must again suffer the test of silence, a more difficult variation this time: Pamina enters and tries to speak with Tamino. Since Tamino silently refuses to answer, Pamina believes he no longer loves her. (Aria: "Ach, ich fühl's, es ist verschwunden") She leaves in despair. An old woman enters and offers Papageno a drink of water. Although it is forbidden, he engages her in conversation and asks her how old she is. She replies that she is eighteen years and two minutes old. Papageno bursts into laughter and teases her that she must have a boyfriend. She replies that she does and that his name is Papageno. Then she disappears without telling him her name.
Scene 8: The pyramids
The Priests of the Temple celebrate Tamino's successes so far, and predict that he will succeed and become worthy of their order (Chorus: "O Isis und Osiris"). Sarastro separates Pamina and Tamino. (Trio: Sarastro, Pamina, Tamino – "Soll ich dich, Teurer, nicht mehr sehn?") They exit and Papageno enters. Papageno plays his magic bells and sings a ditty about his desire for a wife. (Aria, Papageno: "Ein Mädchen oder Weibchen"). The elderly woman reappears and demands that he pledge engagement to her, warning that if he doesn't, he will remain alone forever. Reluctantly, Papageno promises to love her faithfully. She immediately transforms into the young and pretty Papagena. As Papageno rushes to embrace her, however, the priests drive her away with thunder and lightning.
Scene 9: An open country (1868–1932)]]
The three child-spirits see Pamina attempting to commit suicide because she believes Tamino has abandoned her. They restrain her and take away her dagger, promising that she will see him soon. (Quartet: "Bald prangt, den Morgen zu verkünden").
Scene 10: A hall or room with two doors: one leading to a chamber of trial by water and the other to a cavern of fire.
Two men in armour lead Tamino onstage. They recite, in unison, one of the formal creeds of the goddess Isis, promising enlightenment to those who successfully overcome the fear of death ("Der, welcher wandert diese Strasse voll Beschwerden"). This recitation takes the musical form of a Baroque chorale prelude, to the tune of the Lutheran hymn "Ach Gott, vom Himmel sieh darein" ("Oh God, look down from heaven"). Tamino declares he is ready to be tested, but Pamina, offstage, calls for him to wait for her. The men in armour assure Tamino that the trial by silence is over and he is free to speak with her. She enters, and exchanges loving words with Tamino ("Tamino mein, o welch ein Glück!"). United in harmony, they enter the trial-caverns together. Protected by the music of the magic flute, they pass unscathed through fire and water. Offstage, the priests hail their triumph.
Papageno, having given up hope of winning Papagena, tries to hang himself (Aria/Quartet: "Papagena! Papagena! Papagena!"), but at the last minute the three child-spirits appear and remind him that he should use his magic bells to summon her, instead. Papagena reenters, and the happy couple is united, stuttering at first in astonishment (Duet: "Pa … pa … pa ...").
The traitorous Monostatos appears with the Queen of the Night and her ladies, plotting to destroy the temple ("Nur stille, stille"), but they are magically cast out into eternal night.
The scene now changes to the entrance of the chief temple, where Sarastro bids the young lovers welcome and unites them. The final chorus sings the praises of Tamino and Pamina in enduring their trials and gives thanks to the gods.
:The opera may sometimes be divided into three acts in which case, the third act typically begins with scene 8. Even in the two-act version, the numbers in Act 2 are sometimes rearranged, with the Sarastro-Tamino-Pamina trio occurring earlier and Sarastro's prayer occurring later.
Category:Operas by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Category:German-language operas Category:Singspiele Category:Operas Category:1791 operas Category:Operas set in fictional, mythological and folkloric settings
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Mozart's Queen of the Night (Die Zauberflöte) has been Damrau's most frequently performed role to date, as she has been engaged to perform it in over 15 productions at houses including Covent Garden, the Salzburg Festival, the Vienna State Opera, Oper Frankfurt and the Bavarian State Opera, Munich. The soprano made Metropolitan Opera history in 2007-2008 season by appearing as both Pamina and Queen of the Night in the same run, but different performances. Other coloratura roles in her repertoire include Zerbinetta, Lucia, Rosina, Gilda, Adina, Marie and Aminta. She also performs roles in the lyric repertoire including Manon, Donna Anna and Pamina.
Following the birth of her first child, Alexander in October 2010, Damrau is expected to return to the stage in early 2011 to perform the role of Elvira in a new production of Vincenzo Bellini's bel canto masterpiece I Puritani at the Grand Théâtre de Genève, Geneva. This will be followed by a return to the Metropolitan Opera, New York for a new production of Rossini's comic opera Le comte Ory and a revival of Verdi's Rigoletto.
As well as opera, Damrau is a regular on the concert stage. She has performed Lieder repertoire at Vienna's Musikverein, Carnegie Hall, Wigmore Hall, La Scala, the Schubertiade, Schwarzenberg and both the Munich and Salzburg Festivals. The soprano's concert repertoire includes Carl Orff's Carmina Burana, Mozart's C minor mass, Requiem and Exsultate, Jubilate as well as Handel's Messiah. She has performed with such esteemed conductors as James Levine, Zubin Mehta, Lorin Maazel, Sir Colin Davis, Christoph von Dohnányi, Leonard Slatkin, Pierre Boulez, Nikolaus Harnoncourt and Jesús López-Cobos.
Previous recordings include Mahler's Des Knaben Wunderhorn, and Schumann's Myrten with the Telos label and live recordings of her Summer 2005 liederabend at the Salzburg Festival and her Summer 2006 liederabend at the Schubertiade are released on the Orfeo label. Damrau also appears on Deutsche Harmonia Mundi's release of Mozart's Zaide in the title role, and guests alongside Adrianne Pieczonka's on mezzo-soprano Elina Garanca's first solo release with Deutsche Grammophon. Together, they perform the trio finale from Richard Strauss' Der Rosenkavalier.
Category:Operatic sopranos Category:German opera singers Category:Living people Category:1971 births Category:German sopranos
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Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (, English see fn.), baptismal name Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791), was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music. He is among the most enduringly popular of classical composers.
Mozart showed prodigious ability from his earliest childhood in Salzburg. Already competent on keyboard and violin, he composed from the age of five and performed before European royalty. At 17, he was engaged as a court musician in Salzburg, but grew restless and travelled in search of a better position, always composing abundantly. While visiting Vienna in 1781, he was dismissed from his Salzburg position. He chose to stay in the capital, where he achieved fame but little financial security. During his final years in Vienna, he composed many of his best-known symphonies, concertos, and operas, and portions of the Requiem, which was largely unfinished at the time of Mozart's death. The circumstances of his early death have been much mythologized. He was survived by his wife Constanze and two sons.
Mozart learned voraciously from others, and developed a brilliance and maturity of style that encompassed the light and graceful along with the dark and passionate. His influence on subsequent Western art music is profound. Beethoven wrote his own early compositions in the shadow of Mozart, of whom Joseph Haydn wrote that "posterity will not see such a talent again in 100 years."
His father Leopold (1719–1787) was from Augsburg. He was deputy Kapellmeister to the court orchestra of the Archbishop of Salzburg, a minor composer, and an experienced teacher. In the year of Mozart's birth, his father published a violin textbook, Versuch einer gründlichen Violinschule, which achieved success.
; painted in 1763 on commission from Leopold]]When Nannerl was seven, she began keyboard lessons with her father; and her three-year-old brother would look on, evidently fascinated. Years later, after his death, she reminisced:
He often spent much time at the clavier, picking out thirds, which he was always striking, and his pleasure showed that it sounded good. [...] In the fourth year of his age his father, for a game as it were, began to teach him a few minuets and pieces at the clavier. [...] He could play it faultlessly and with the greatest delicacy, and keeping exactly in time. [...] At the age of five, he was already composing little pieces, which he played to his father who wrote them down.
These early pieces, K. 1–5, were recorded in the Nannerl Notenbuch.
Biographer Maynard Solomon notes that, while Leopold was a devoted teacher to his children, there is evidence that Wolfgang was keen to make progress beyond what he was being taught. His first ink-spattered composition and his precocious efforts with the violin were on his own initiative and came as a great surprise to Leopold. Leopold eventually gave up composing when his son's outstanding musical talents became evident. He was Wolfgang's only teacher in his earliest years and taught his children languages and academic subjects as well as music.]]
These trips were often arduous. Travel conditions were primitive; the family had to wait for invitations and reimbursement from the nobility. They endured long, near-fatal illnesses far from home: first Leopold (London, summer 1764) then both children (The Hague, autumn 1765).
After one year in Salzburg, father and son set off for Italy, leaving Wolfgang's mother and his sister at home. This travel lasted from December 1769 to March 1771. As with earlier journeys, Leopold wanted to display his son's abilities as a performer and a rapidly maturing composer. Wolfgang met G. B. Martini, in Bologna, and was accepted as a member of the famous Accademia Filarmonica. In Rome, he heard Gregorio Allegri's Miserere once in performance in the Sistine Chapel. He wrote it out in its entirety from memory, only returning to correct minor errors—thus producing the first illegal copy of this closely guarded property of the Vatican.
In Milan, Mozart wrote the opera Mitridate, re di Ponto (1770), which was performed with success. This led to further opera commissions. He returned with his father later twice to Milan (August–December 1771; October 1772 – March 1773) for the composition and premieres of Ascanio in Alba (1771) and Lucio Silla (1772). Leopold hoped these visits would result in a professional appointment for his son in Italy, but these hopes were never fulfilled.
Toward the end of the final Italian journey, Mozart wrote the first of his works to be still widely performed today, the solo cantata Exsultate, jubilate, K. 165.
Despite these artistic successes, Mozart grew increasingly discontent with Salzburg and redoubled his efforts to find a position elsewhere. One reason was his low salary, 150 florins a year; Mozart also longed to compose operas, and Salzburg provided only rare occasions for these. The situation worsened in 1775 when the court theater was closed, especially since the other theater in Salzburg was largely reserved for visiting troupes.
Two long expeditions in search of work (both Leopold and Wolfgang were looking) interrupted this long Salzburg stay: they visited Vienna, from 14 July to 26 September 1773, and Munich, from 6 December 1774 to March 1775. Neither visit was successful, though the Munich journey resulted in a popular success with the premiere of Mozart's opera La finta giardiniera.
In August 1777, Mozart resigned his Salzburg position and, on 23 September, ventured out once more in search of employment, with visits to Augsburg, Mannheim, Paris, and Munich. Since Archbishop Colloredo would not give Leopold leave to travel, Mozart's mother Anna Maria accompanied him.
Mozart became acquainted with members of the famous orchestra in Mannheim, the best in Europe at the time. He also fell in love with Aloysia Weber, one of four daughters in a musical family. There were prospects of employment in Mannheim, but they came to nothing, and Mozart left for Paris on 14 March 1778 to continue his search. One of his letters from Paris hints at a possible post as an organist at Versailles, but Mozart was not interested in such an appointment. He fell into debt and took to pawning valuables. The nadir of the visit occurred when Mozart's mother took ill and died on 3 July 1778. There had been delays in calling a doctor—probably, according to Halliwell, because of a lack of funds.
While Wolfgang was in Paris, Leopold was pursuing opportunities for him back in Salzburg, and, with the support of local nobility, secured him a post as court organist and concertmaster. The yearly salary was 450 florins, but Wolfgang was reluctant to accept. After leaving Paris on 26 September 1778, he tarried in Mannheim and Munich, still hoping to obtain an appointment outside Salzburg. In Munich, he again encountered Aloysia, now a very successful singer, but she made it plain that she was no longer interested in him. Mozart finally reached home on 15 January 1779 and took up the new position, but his discontent with Salzburg was undiminished.
Among the better known works that Mozart wrote on the Paris journey are the A minor piano sonata K. 310/300d and the "Paris" Symphony (no. 31); these were performed in Paris on 12 June and 18 June 1778. for his gallery; Mozart with the Order of the Golden Spur which he received in 1770 as a 14-year old from Pope Clement XIV in Rome.]]
In 1783, Wolfgang and Constanze visited his family in Salzburg. Leopold and Nannerl were, at best, only polite to Constanze, but the visit prompted the composition of one of Mozart's great liturgical pieces, the Mass in C minor. Though not completed, it was premiered in Salzburg, with Constanze singing a solo part.
Mozart met Joseph Haydn in Vienna, and the two composers became friends (see Haydn and Mozart). When Haydn visited Vienna, they sometimes played together in an impromptu string quartet. Mozart's six quartets dedicated to Haydn (K. 387, K. 421, K. 428, K. 458, K. 464, and K. 465) date from the period 1782 to 1785, and are judged to be a response to Haydn's Opus 33 set from 1781. Haydn in 1785 told the visiting Leopold: "I tell you before God, and as an honest man, your son is the greatest composer known to me by person and repute, he has taste and what is more the greatest skill in composition."
From 1782 to 1785 Mozart mounted concerts with himself as soloist, presenting three or four new piano concertos in each season. Since space in the theaters was scarce, he booked unconventional venues: a large room in the Trattnerhof (an apartment building), and the ballroom of the Mehlgrube (a restaurant). The concerts were very popular, and the concertos he premiered at them are still firm fixtures in the repertoire. Solomon writes that during this period Mozart created "a harmonious connection between an eager composer-performer and a delighted audience, which was given the opportunity of witnessing the transformation and perfection of a major musical genre". Mozart also bought a fine fortepiano from Anton Walter for about 900 florins, and a billiard table for about 300. and kept servants. Saving was therefore impossible, and the short period of financial success did nothing to soften the hardship the Mozarts were later to experience.
On 14 December 1784, Mozart became a Freemason, admitted to the lodge Zur Wohltätigkeit ("Beneficence"). Freemasonry played an important role in the remainder of Mozart's life: he attended meetings, a number of his friends were Masons, and on various occasions he composed Masonic music. (See Mozart and Freemasonry.)
In December 1787 Mozart finally obtained a steady post under aristocratic patronage. Emperor Joseph II appointed him as his "chamber composer", a post that had fallen vacant the previous month on the death of Gluck. It was a part-time appointment, paying just 800 florins per year, and only required Mozart to compose dances for the annual balls in the Redoutensaal. However, even this modest income became important to Mozart when hard times arrived. Court records show that Joseph's aim was to keep the esteemed composer from leaving Vienna in pursuit of better prospects.
In 1787 the young Ludwig van Beethoven spent several weeks in Vienna, hoping to study with Mozart. No reliable records survive to indicate whether the two composers ever met. (See Mozart and Beethoven.)
By mid-1788, Mozart and his family had moved from central Vienna to the suburb of Alsergrund. Mozart began to borrow money, most often from his friend and fellow Mason Michael Puchberg; "a pitiful sequence of letters pleading for loans" survives. Maynard Solomon and others have suggested that Mozart was suffering from depression, and it seems that his output slowed. Major works of the period include the last three symphonies (Nos. 39, 40, and 41, all from 1788), and the last of the three Da Ponte operas, Così fan tutte, premiered in 1790.
Around this time Mozart made long journeys hoping to improve his fortunes: to Leipzig, Dresden, and Berlin in the spring of 1789 (see Mozart's Berlin journey), and to Frankfurt, Mannheim, and other German cities in 1790. The trips produced only isolated success and did not relieve the family's financial distress.
Mozart's financial situation, a source of extreme anxiety in 1790, finally began to improve. Although the evidence is inconclusive, it appears that wealthy patrons in Hungary and Amsterdam pledged annuities to Mozart in return for the occasional composition. He probably also benefited from the sale of dance music written in his role as Imperial chamber composer. and the Little Masonic Cantata K. 623, premiered on 15 November 1791.
Mozart was nursed in his final illness by Constanze and her youngest sister Sophie, and attended by the family doctor, Thomas Franz Closset. It is clear that he was mentally occupied with the task of finishing his Requiem. However, the evidence that he actually dictated passages to his student Süssmayr is very slim.
Mozart died at 1 a.m. on 5 December 1791 at the age of 35. The New Grove gives a matter-of-fact description of his funeral:
The cause of Mozart's death cannot be known with certainty. The official record has it as "hitziges Frieselfieber" ("severe miliary fever", referring to a rash that looks like millet seeds), a description that does not suffice to identify the cause as it would be diagnosed in modern medicine. Researchers have posited at least 118 causes of death, including trichinosis, influenza, mercury poisoning, and a rare kidney ailment. The most widely accepted hypothesis is that Mozart died of acute rheumatic fever.
Mozart's sparse funeral did not reflect his standing with the public as a composer: memorial services and concerts in Vienna and Prague were well attended. Indeed, in the period immediately after his death, Mozart's reputation rose substantially: Solomon describes an "unprecedented wave of enthusiasm" for his work; biographies were written (first by Schlichtegroll, Niemetschek, and Nissen; see Biographies of Mozart); and publishers vied to produce complete editions of his works.
Mozart usually worked long and hard, finishing compositions at a tremendous pace as deadlines approached. He often made sketches and drafts; unlike Beethoven's these are mostly not preserved, as Constanze sought to destroy them after his death. (See: Mozart's compositional method.) He was raised a Roman Catholic and remained a member of the Church throughout his life. (See Mozart and Roman Catholicism.)
Mozart lived at the center of the Viennese musical world, and knew a great number and variety of people: fellow musicians, theatrical performers, fellow Salzburgers, and aristocrats, including some acquaintance with the Emperor Joseph II. Solomon considers his three closest friends to have been Gottfried von Jacquin, Count August Hatzfeld, and Sigmund Barisani; others included his older colleague Joseph Haydn, singers Franz Xaver Gerl and Benedikt Schack, and the horn player Joseph Leutgeb. Leutgeb and Mozart carried on a curious kind of friendly mockery, often with Leutgeb as the butt of Mozart's practical jokes.
He enjoyed billiards and dancing (see Mozart and dance), and kept pets: a canary, a starling, a dog, and also a horse for recreational riding. He had a fondness for scatological humor, which is preserved in his surviving letters, notably those written to his cousin Maria Anna Thekla Mozart around 1777–1778, but also in his correspondence with his sister and parents. Mozart even wrote scatological music, a series of canons that he sang with his friends. See: Mozart and scatology.
The central traits of the Classical style are all present in Mozart's music. Clarity, balance, and transparency are the hallmarks of his work, but simplistic notions of its delicacy mask the exceptional power of his finest masterpieces, such as the Piano Concerto No. 24 in C minor, K. 491, the Symphony No. 40 in G minor, K. 550, and the opera Don Giovanni. Charles Rosen makes the point forcefully:
It is only through recognizing the violence and sensuality at the center of Mozart's work that we can make a start towards a comprehension of his structures and an insight into his magnificence. In a paradoxical way, Schumann's superficial characterization of the G minor Symphony can help us to see Mozart's daemon more steadily. In all of Mozart's supreme expressions of suffering and terror, there is something shockingly voluptuous.Especially during his last decade, Mozart exploited chromatic harmony to a degree rare at the time, with remarkable assurance and to great artistic effect.
Mozart always had a gift for absorbing and adapting valuable features of others' music. His travels helped in the forging of a unique compositional language. In London as a child, he met J.C. Bach and heard his music. In Paris, Mannheim, and Vienna he met with other compositional influences, as well as the avant-garde capabilities of the Mannheim orchestra. In Italy he encountered the Italian overture and opera buffa, both of which deeply affected the evolution of his own practice. In London and Italy, the galant style was in the ascendent: simple, light music with a mania for cadencing; an emphasis on tonic, dominant, and subdominant to the exclusion of other harmonies; symmetrical phrases; and clearly articulated partitions in the overall form of movements. Some of Mozart's early symphonies are Italian overtures, with three movements running into each other; many are homotonal (all three movements having the same key signature, with the slow middle movement being in the relative minor). Others mimic the works of J.C. Bach, and others show the simple rounded binary forms turned out by Viennese composers.
As Mozart matured, he progressively incorporated more features adapted from the Baroque. For example, the Symphony No. 29 in A Major K. 201 has a contrapuntal main theme in its first movement, and experimentation with irregular phrase lengths. Some of his quartets from 1773 have fugal finales, probably influenced by Haydn, who had included three such finales in his recently published Opus 20 set. The influence of the Sturm und Drang ("Storm and Stress") period in music, with its brief foreshadowing of the Romantic era, is evident in the music of both composers at that time. Mozart's Symphony No. 25 in G minor K. 183 is another excellent example.
Mozart would sometimes switch his focus between operas and instrumental music. He produced operas in each of the prevailing styles: opera buffa, such as The Marriage of Figaro, Don Giovanni, and Così fan tutte; opera seria, such as Idomeneo; and Singspiel, of which Die Zauberflöte is the most famous example by any composer. In his later operas he employed subtle changes in instrumentation, orchestral texture, and tone color, for emotional depth and to mark dramatic shifts. Here his advances in opera and instrumental composing interacted: his increasingly sophisticated use of the orchestra in the symphonies and concertos influenced his operatic orchestration, and his developing subtlety in using the orchestra to psychological effect in his operas was in turn reflected in his later non-operatic compositions.
Ludwig van Beethoven, Mozart's junior by fifteen years, was deeply influenced by his work, with which he was acquainted as a teenager. He is thought to have performed Mozart's operas while playing in the court orchestra at Bonn, and he traveled to Vienna in 1787 hoping to study the older composer. Some of Beethoven's works have direct models in comparable works by Mozart, and he wrote (WoO 58) to Mozart's D minor piano concerto K. 466.
A number of composers have paid homage to Mozart by writing sets of variations on his themes. Beethoven wrote four such sets (Op. 66, WoO 28, WoO 40, WoO 46). Others include Frédéric Chopin's Variations on "Là ci darem la mano" from Don Giovanni (1827) and Max Reger's Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Mozart (1914), based on the variation theme in the piano sonata K. 331. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky wrote his Orchestral Suite No. 4 in G, "Mozartiana" (1887), as a tribute to Mozart.
* Category:Classical era composers Category:German composers Category:Opera composers Category:Organ improvisers Category:Viennese composers Category:Austrian classical pianists Category:Child classical musicians Category:People from Salzburg Category:Austrian Roman Catholics Category:Knights of the Golden Spur Category:1756 births Category:1791 deaths
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Born in Chiusavecchia, Devia trained at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome with Iolanda Magnoni. She made her stage debut in Treviso, as Lucia in Lucia di Lammermoor, in 1973, and quickly sang throughout Italy, making her debut at La Scala in Milan in 1987, as Giulietta in ''I Capuleti e i Montecchi.
On the international scene, she appeared at the Metropolitan Opera, as Lucia, and Carnegie Hall, as Lakmé, in 1979, and made her debut at the Paris Opera and the Aix-en-Provence Festival in 1987, and at the Royal Opera House in London, in 1988.
She was a regular at the Pesaro Festival and at the Festival della Valle d'Itria in Martina Franca, where she won great acclaim in the exhumation of long neglected operas by Rossini, Donizetti, Bellini and other bel canto composers. She is also admired in Mozart operas, especially as Constanze in Abduction from the Seraglio, as well as Verdi's Gilda and Violetta.
Category:1948 births Category:Italian female singers Category:Italian opera singers Category:Italian sopranos Category:Operatic sopranos Category:Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia alumni Category:People from the Province of Imperia Category:Living people
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He is particularly renowned for his interpretations of Mozart roles such as Guglielmo, Papageno, Figaro, the Count and Don Giovanni. He made his New York debut at the Metropolitan Opera on January 24, 1998 in the role of Papageno in Die Zauberflöte. He has subsequently performed the title role of Don Giovanni and Marcello in Puccini's La bohème at the Metropolitan.
In addition to his success with Mozart, Finley has been active in contemporary opera. He has created a number of roles including Doctor Oppenheimer in the world premiere of John Adams' opera Doctor Atomic at the San Francisco Opera on October 1, 2005. This opera had its Metropolitan Opera premiere with Finley in the Oppenheimer role on October 13, 2008 and was broadcast as part of the Met's Live in HD broadcast series on November 8, 2008. Other roles he has originated include Harry Heegan in The Silver Tassie by Mark-Anthony Turnage at the English National Opera and the title role in Fantastic Mr. Fox by Tobias Picker at the Los Angeles Opera.
Finley has been critically praised in both opera and concert. After a recital at Carnegie Hall in March, 2007, he was praised by New York Times critic Bernard Holland as having a "bass-baritone of easy luxury" and that his "sensibilities begin with the pre-eminence of words." His portrayal of Schumann's Dichterliebe at the Wigmore Hall in 2006 was also highly praised.
Expanding his repertoire, Finley sang the title role of Eugene Onegin at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, this March. This is the second time he has sung a Tchaikovsky role for the Royal Opera; the first being Prince Yeletsky, from Pique Dame. Finley appears on a number of recordings, including several solo albums on the Hyperion label.
Category:Operatic baritones Category:Canadian opera singers Category:Living people Category:1960 births Category:People from Montreal Category:Musicians from Quebec Category:University of Ottawa alumni Category:Alumni of King's College, Cambridge Category:Alumni of the Royal College of Music
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Moser made her debut as Kate Pinkerton, in 1962. In 1968, she made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera, in the role of Wellgunde in Das Rheingold, and sang there several roles for nine seasons. These roles included the parts of Donna Anna (Don Giovanni) and the Königin der Nacht (Die Zauberflöte), both by Mozart.
She maintained an extensive repertoire, singing both dramatic coloratura and lirico spinto roles. She played Donna Anna in Joseph Losey's movie of Don Giovanni. She was one of the original performers of Hans Werner Henze's oratorio Das Floß der Medusa which she created on disc, as the intended premiere in Hamburg was cancelled after a disturbance.
After retiring from opera, Edda Moser remained active as a recitalist during the late nineties. She gave several memorable concerts in Germany with Ivan Törzs at the piano (Dresden, Semper Opera House 1997, Stadttheater Giessen 1999) with programs ranging from Johann Adolph Hasse to Clara Schumann and Richard Strauss. She gave her farewell performance in Munich in 1999 at the Cuvilliés Theatre.
Currently, Edda Moser is much involved in promoting the use of proper German instead of Denglisch. In 2006 she founded the yearly Festspiel der Deutschen Sprache. Three CDs documenting this festival have appeared thus far at the German publishing house Edition Lübbe.
She is a professor of singing at the Hochschule für Musik in Cologne.
"Moser's voice was an anomaly; it had the rich warmth of a spinto soprano in the middle and bottom registers but as the voice ascended the timbre (and volume) lightened. Thus her impact was due to the contrasts of vocal elegance and fiery delivery rather than full, exciting high notes. [...] The voice has a fierce, haunting quality that is quite unforgettable and a weight that makes most other coloratura sopranos sound like fireflies in comparison. For a voice of her size and power, however, she loses nothing in agility or range and finds many moments of delicacy in the andante."
Carroll also mentions Moser's "unique dark, smoldering sound."
Edda Moser's Mozart recordings had an enormous impact when they first came out. Mr. Nicholas E. Limansky, in a note written especially for this Wikipedia entry, explains why they were so special to him:
"There is a stunning intensity to her singing and a thrust to her dramatic interpretation that I had never heard before in the singing of those arias [i.e. the Queen of the Night's] (especially the Vengeance aria). It was as if the character was barely managing to keep everything together before combusting in a blaze of hate and fury. The coloratura is clean, the staccati pin point, but the fire and energy in the singing, oh that was something else entirely. Compared with Lucia Popp - one of the other reigning Queens at the time, it is true that Moser could not match the clear coolness of Popp’s superb top register, but whereas Popp stunned by her icy indifference, Moser seared the listener’s ears with a raging inferno of vocalism. And she duplicated this when singing the aria in front of audiences. To hear her sing the Vengeance aria is to hear realism carried to an extreme and to find oneself exhausted at its completion.
I was even more impressed by her singing of the concert arias. With Edda Moser, “Popoli di Tessaglia” is the dramatic scena it always should be but rarely is, presented without affectation through the use of her smoky lower register and vibrant, spinning top and an imaginative, colorful musicality. Almost twelve minutes long, the aria is a testament to seductive and musical phrasing - and the ascents to the two top G’s are as inevitable as they are beautifully done. One never suspects throughout the long, demanding piece, that it is one of the hardest arias in the soprano literature.
If possible, her recording of “Ma che vi fece o stelle” is even more inventive in its phrasing and beauty. One of the things I have always loved about Edda Moser was her fearless musicality. When it comes to such bravura arias as this one, most singers are just content to get the notes out and on pitch. Not so with Edda Moser. For instance, when coming to an arpeggiated phrase or figure that other’s would sing legato as written, Moser would often use staccati to highlight the figure and its construction - accenting the point of the phrase in an individual and unforgettable way.
During this complicated aria she does this a number of times and combined with her perfect, vocal attack the aural benefits are such that one can listen to this recording countless times and still find certain personal touches of her singing not noticed before. This is the mark of a very special, individual artist. An elegant artist, there was always poetry in her singing. One unforgettable moment comes after a difficult section near the end - a long high C that Moser picks out of the air and beautifully sustains without a single tremor. As if stopping time, the note suspends in the air with the lightness of the touch of a feather to the listener’s ear. Not once during this, or other of her recorded bravura arias does Moser give the listener even a hint of the difficulty of such feats. Her treatment of the impossible jump to high F integrates it into the phrase rather than isolating the single high note. (This also goes for the staccati cadential figure up to top F that she interpolates at the end of the piece.) If I could only have one recording of Edda Moser that I felt defined her artistry it would be this great performance."
Edda Moser's voice is included on the Voyager Golden Record sent into space by NASA on the Voyager 1 & 2 spacecraft in case it should meet intelligent life. The piece sung is the Queen of the Night's second aria, "Der Hölle Rache" (Hell's Revenge), from Mozart's The Magic Flute, with Wolfgang Sawallisch conducting. This aria contains some of the very highest pitches a human voice is capable of reaching.
;Sacred Music
;Concert Arias and Operatic Recitals
;Lieder Various albums on EMI with songs by Robert Schumann (Frauenliebe und -leben), Clara Schumann (Drei Lieder nach Friedrich Rückert), Brahms, Wolf (Mignon Lieder), Strauss (Brentano Lieder, Ophelia Lieder), Pfitzner and Schubert.
;Symphonies
;Various
;Spoken Word
;Live recordings
;Anthologies
;Interview
;Videoclips
From the interview CD with Holger Wemhof.
Category:1938 births Category:Living people Category:People from Berlin Category:German opera singers Category:Operatic sopranos
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