Release Date: 12 January 1999
Label: Naxos - Nxc / Naxos Classics
Packaging Type: Jewel Case
No of Units: 1
Barcode: 4891030505124
Genres: Classical
Composer/Series: MOZART
Description
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 - 1791) Complete Church SonatasWolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born in Salzburg in 1756, the onlysurviving son and second surviving child of Leopold Mozart, later Vice-Kapellmeister inthe musical establishment of the Prince- Archbishop. His father soon realised theexceptional talent of his son, which he carefully nurtured, thereby sacrificing his owncareer as a composer and violinist. Mozart and his older sister Anna-Maria, a giftedkeyboard-player, toured Europe, amazing audiences by their musical precocity, whileLeopold Mozart saw to it that his son profited from the experience that travel couldbring. Journeys to Italy followed, and there the young Mozart was able to satisfy theambition that any composer of the day would have by the composition of operas. By 1772,however, childhood had come to an end, and Mozart, now sixteen, was faced by the necessityof employment; now under a new archbishop in Salzburg, a man of modernising tendencies inmatters liturgical, who nevertheless retained a very clear idea of w hat was due to himfrom members of his court musical establishment. A remaining obligation in Milan wasfulfilled, with the opera Lucio Silla, butfrom now on opportunities for travel were more restricted. In 1777 Mozart, refused leaveof absence, resigned from his position as Konzertmeister in the archiepiscopal service,seeking employment at first in Mannheim and then in Paris, but to no purpose. By 1779 hewas with mutual reluctance in the service of the archbishop once more, this time as courtorganist. Matters came to a head after the success of his opera Idomeneo in Munich and asubsequent visit to Vienna in the entourage of the arch bishop. The denial ofopportunities for performance there led to a final quarrel and Mozart's dismissal. For thelast ten years of his life he remained in Vienna in precarious independence, taking adowerless wife, and attracting initial attention as a composer, performer and teacher,until the novelty wore off, and audiences sought new attractions. At the time of his deathin 1791 Mozart's fortunes seemed about to take a turn for the better, with the success ofthe German opera The Magic Flute and the possibility of employment at the Cathedral.The seventeen brief Church Sonatas or Epistle Sonatas werewritten for use in Salzburg between the years 1772 and 1780. The first group of three, K.67 - 69, were written in the former year and are scored, as are the majority of theseshort pieces, for two violins, bass and organ. The brevity of these single-movement worksis explained by the new archbishop's insistence that the entire Mass should not last morethan three-quarters of an hour, an abbreviation that Mozart himself deplored, as weunderstand from a letter on the subject written in 1776 to his former mentor, PadreMartini, in Bologna. The second of the group, K. 68, in B flat major, introduces a briefelement of contrapuntal imitation in a second subject, the whole in an abridged sonataform, found also
Tracklisting
Dariia Lytvishko
Fort Smith Symph:John Jeter
Azulejos Guitar Duo
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra; Marin Alsop
Alice Di Piazza; Basel Sinfonietta; NDR Bigband; Titus Engel
Anna Alas i Jove; Miquel Villalba
David Childs; Black Dyke Band; Nicholas Childs
Angela Vallone; Bianca Tognocchi; Theo Lebow; Iurii Samoilov; Gordon Bintner; Frankfurter Opern-und
