Dear Symphony of the Hills Friends,

Our final concert of the season will feature the music of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and some of his followers. Mozart, unlike J.S. Bach, was popular and often-performed during his brief lifetime. From his first performances as a child prodigy until his tragic death at the age of 35, Mozart was the composer most in demand in the second half of the 18^th century. After his death he has remained as the most often-performed composer to this day. A remarkable and lasting legacy.

The concert will begin with his dramatic Symphony No. 25 in G Minor, the iconic music chosen for the opening of the multiple Academy Award-winning movie Amadeus. You will also hear the beautiful Concerto for Flute and Harp, featuring Symphony of the Hills principal players Dani Rauschuber, flute, and Shana Norton, harp.

Symphony No. 25 in G Minor (1st Movement)
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 – 1791)

It has been well established that Mozart wrote 38 symphonies; the authorship of another three originally attributed to him is doubtful and that of at least 20 other symphonies cannot be confirmed because the scores are missing. In any case his output of symphonies was manifold; he wrote his first symphony at the age of 8. He wrote Symphony No. 25 when he was 17. It is sometimes known as Mozart’s “little” G minor Symphony, with reference to the sublime later “Great” G minor Symphony No. 40. In the nineteenth century No. 25 was little known and rarely performed, a situation that changed dramatically in the following century. Indeed, with the popularity of the movie Amadeus, which uses the first movement of No. 25 in ways that would surprise the composer, the piece has achieved a familiarity on a par with that of his No. 40. Symphony No. 25 was Mozart’s first symphony in a minor key; he wrote only two in that key.

Concerto for Flute and Harp (1^st & 2^nd Movements)
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Featuring: Shana Norton on Harp and Dani Rauschuber on flute. 

This piece for flute, harp and small orchestra was written by Mozart expressly to please an audience. It was commissioned by the Duc de Guines, a superb amateur flautist, to be played by the Duke and his harpist daughter, also a very good musician. Shortly after Mozart’s arrival in Paris with his mother in 1778, she wrote to her husband in Salzburg about the concerto and Mozart’s employment to teach composition to the Duke’s daughter. This was quite an honor, but the pleasure began to wane when it became clear that the Duke was in no hurry to compensate Mozart for the work. The piece itself has a sunny, tender character with a courtly graciousness, perhaps a reflection of lovely days in Paris.

The 1st Movement is a highly melodic, rather contemplative movement. The flute and harp duet passages with a silent orchestra are sparkling, with surprising returns to a minor key. It has been said that without this aspect the entire concerto would be “too happy to bear.” The flute and harp concerto was intended to be heard in a royal home, in a chamber music setting. In Mozart’s day the harp had not been refined to provide the necessary volume for a large concert hall, nor had it earned a place in the orchestras of the period. This upbeat blend of harp and flute works so well one is left to wonder why other composers failed to pursue this combination of voices.

Symphony No. 41 in C Major (Jupiter)
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Mozart wrote his final three symphonies (39, 40 and 41) in a span of less than three months during the summer of 1788. Taken as a set, these works represent a diverse summary of Mozart as a mature artist and provide a good representation of the symphony form in the late 18th century. Symphony No. 41 is brilliant. Listening to this music leaves one to ponder the possibilities of a No. 42, which was never to be. Mozart was going through a very nasty personal period in 1788, but his No. 41 is surprisingly bright and effervescent.

Although the title “Jupiter” did not originate with the composer himself, it certainly fits this regal final symphony from the undisputed master of this classical form. It is probable that No. 41 was never performed in a concert hall during Mozart’s lifetime; regrettably his flagging spirits were not lifted by the critics’ almost universal adulation.

Overture to The Magic Flute
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart                                                                

Four of the selections this evening, including this one, are from The Magic Flute (Die Zauberflöte), Mozart’s penultimate opera, written during the extremely fertile last year of his life in 1791. The opera in two acts is an example of the dramatic style popular at the time, known as Singspiel (a blend of singing and spoken text,) and is believed by some to be an allegory on Mozart’s Masonic associations and beliefs. He would live to see it successfully staged and he actually conducted the premiere performances, though his death just months later would deprive him of knowing how lasting the work would become.

The Magic Flute is a fairy tale, with simple themes of love and of good versus evil, but having a complex and imaginative plot. To kick off the story, the Queen of the Night persuades Prince Tamino to rescue her daughter Pamina from captivity under the high priest Sarastro. She promises him Pamina’s hand in marriage and gives him a magic flute. In a plot twist, Tamino joins Sarastro’s group when he learns that Sarastro is kind and wise and the Queen of the Night is evil. Sarastro puts Pamina and Tamino through severe trials of initiation involving fire and water. They survive that ordeal by using the magic flute. The earthy Papageno, a bird catcher who has accompanied Tamino on his quest, fails the initiation but is rewarded anyway with the hand of his young and pretty female companion Papagena. United, the happy couple stutter in astonishment and make bird-like courting sounds at each other. They plan their future and dream of the many children they will have together; since it’s an opera, they sing:

Papageno and Papagena Duet
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Kara Joy Baker, Soprano and David Baker, Baritone

and live happily ever after. The evil Queen of the Night, who is quite upset with all the love and success, attempts to destroy the temple but she and her cohorts are cast into the darkness.