Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)
Austrian
Horn Concerto Number 4 in Eb - Third Movement
A concerto is a piece for a solo instrumentalist and orchestra. A concerto shows off the skill of the soloist. Mozart’s friend Joseph Leutgeb was a famous horn player. Leutgeb inherited a cheese shop in Vienna and might have become a cheesemonger if Mozart hadn’t written such fabulous concertos for him to play! Horns of the time were very difficult to play because they didn’t have valves (buttons) to press. Mainly horns were used to play hunting fanfares but being a horn player on a hunt was hazardous - you had to ride a horse and play at the same time! Listen out for the times when the orchestra ‘answer’ the horn by repeating the same tune.
Notation for Beginners:
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Notation for Grades 1 & 2:
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Opera
La Finta Giardiniera
(The Disguised Gardener)
(The Disguised Gardener)
La finta giardiniera was first performed on Jan 13th 1775, just two weeks before Mozart’s 19th birthday: he had already written seven operas.
Mozart had been a professional musician since he was six. He and his sister were star performers on the keyboard and spent their childhood touring Europe with their parents. However, it’s one thing to be a brilliant kid, quite another to be an spotty teenager and, when Mozart was 18, he was trying to hold down a decent job. He was employed by the Archbishop of Salzburg to write church music, rehearse the choir and teach choirboys the keyboard. It was a good ordinary job, rather like being a modern session musician, but it didn’t pay well and anyway Mozart knew he was a genius. He wanted to be independent, make money, and write works that suited him. For Mozart that meant Italian opera.
Mozart had been a professional musician since he was six. He and his sister were star performers on the keyboard and spent their childhood touring Europe with their parents. However, it’s one thing to be a brilliant kid, quite another to be an spotty teenager and, when Mozart was 18, he was trying to hold down a decent job. He was employed by the Archbishop of Salzburg to write church music, rehearse the choir and teach choirboys the keyboard. It was a good ordinary job, rather like being a modern session musician, but it didn’t pay well and anyway Mozart knew he was a genius. He wanted to be independent, make money, and write works that suited him. For Mozart that meant Italian opera.