Musikkollegium Winterthur & Roberto González Monjas - Werden: Works by Mozart - Beethoven - Tarrodi (2023)

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Musikkollegium Winterthur & Roberto González Monjas - Werden: Works by Mozart - Beethoven - Tarrodi (2023)

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The theme of our 22/23 season, “Werden” (Becoming), is taken directly from Mozart’s splendid Symphony No. 39. This work is associated with concepts such as freemasonry, virtuosity, nature, mystery and enlightenment. But why? Can music really express these ideas, or do we merely randomly associate romantic meanings with it? How can we interpret a manuscript – hastily written in ink on parchment by candlelight in 1788? I warmly invite you to engage with the hidden aspects of this fascinating work.

ANDREA TARRODI ON FRAGMENTS OF ENLIGHTENMENT

I was commissioned to compose “Fragments of Enlightenment” by the Musikkollegium Winterthur and its Chief Conductor Roberto González-Monjas. It is inspired by Mozart’s Symphony No. 39, and there are quotes and fragments from his work throughout the piece. When composing, I thought of someone who is struggling inwardly, constantly striving for light and serenity – values for which Mozart’s music often stands. It is for the listener to decide whether he or she finds these at the end of the piece.

WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART SYMPHONY NO. 39 IN E-FLAT MAJOR

Mozart’s symphony in E-flat major begins with a grand gesture. At the same time, it opens the mythical “triad” of last symphonies that Mozart penned at seemingly superhuman speed in the summer of 1788. Three times, at the beginning of the long introduction, our attention is aroused – with pathos, pearly descending scales and dotted rhythms in accordance with the ceremonial of the French overture. Timpani and trumpets reinforce the sublime tone which, however, does not remain without strong contrasts over the course of the symphony. The perpetuum mobile finale à la Haydn, in particular, comes to such a sudden halt that, in the words of Hans Georg Nägeli, “the unprepared listener has no idea what is happening to him” . According to musicologist Peter Gülke, this abrupt end to the work could perhaps also be understood as a provisional conclusion in the midst of the symphonic triad.

WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART MAURERISCHE TRAUERMUSIK

As a result of Joseph II’s relaxation of censorship, masonic lodges with a need for ritual, sacred music mushroomed in Vienna in the 1780s. Since joining the “Zur Wohltätigkeit” lodge at the end of 1784, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart had composed numerous works connected with freemasonry. The genesis of the “Masonic Funeral Music” and the reason for its creation are not without controversy. An initial setting, dated by Mozart to July 1785, may have served as the accompaniment for the ritual elevation of an initiate to the rank of master. For a later version, which was probably performed at the funeral service of two important lodge brothers in December of the same year, Mozart gave the piece greater depth by adding two basset horns and an octave bassoon. Set in C minor, the traditional key of mourning, the melancholy movement begins with the lamentation of the plaintive minor second in the oboes. For the consoling middle section in E-flat major, Mozart used a cantus firmus – a set melody – taken from the Good Friday liturgy, just as Johann Michael Haydn had done for his Requiem, which Mozart knew and appreciated.

LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN OVERTURE DIE WEIHE DES HAUSES

October 3, 1822, marked a memorable new beginning: after a period of rebuilding, Vienna’s Theater in der Josefstadt was due to reopen. The overture for the festivities was composed and conducted by Ludwig van Beethoven, notwithstanding his advanced hearing affliction – the only theatre to have been “consecrated” by the composer himself, performing a work of his own composition. The introduction of this “occasional piece” already strikes a majestic tone, before a trumpet fanfare resounds for the transition into the main movement. A solemn fugato, paired with the instruction “Allegro con brio” – significant for Beethoven – creates an especially festive atmosphere. The radiant coda in C major elevates this key to veritably panegyric heights. The fact that Beethoven later included the overture in the concert programme for the première of his Ninth Symphony, together with excerpts from the Missa solemnis, illustrates its significance for his orchestral music. Contemporaries considered it “indisputably among Beethoven’s most accomplished works”.