180710 – Toronto Concert Orchestra

We present the impeccably crafted music of the late 18th century: Rosetti’s Horn Concerto in E-flat with Polish virtuoso Jacek Muzyk plus the gallant Sinfonia in B-flat K45b 'Cavaliere' by Mozart. Experience the rare workmanship of composers for royal courts in the age of elegance. Special guest artist, soprano, Karolina Podolak, in Mozart’s Laudate Dominum.

PROGRAMME

JC Bach | Orchestral Suite No.3 in D
Mozart | Sinfonia in B-flat K54b ‘Cavaliere’
Rosetti | Horn Concerto in E-flat Major, C49/K III:36

[Intermission]

Mozart | Laudate Dominum
Lehár | Meine Lippen, sie Küssen so Heiss from "Giuditta"
Loewe | I Could Have Danced All Night from "My Fair Lady"
Salieri | Sinfonia Veneziana

Conductor | Kerry Stratton
Horn Soloist | Jacek Muzyk
Soprano | Karolina Podolak

PROGRAMME NOTES

Prepared by TCO's Assistant Conductor, Surinder S. Mundra

There's something to be said when a Czech composer changes his name with the intention of gaining greater audience acceptance. There's so much more to be said when that name is changed to its Italianate form for greater musical currency. Though it is difficult to say whether the music in tonight's programme has more to do with nationalism, than the musical and personal connections these composers shared with one another from that particular musical era, the Classical Period!

This period was exemplified by its perfectly refined music and tastefulness! It is music that reflects an aesthetic which captivates its listeners with such sublime, and divine beauty in its singing lines. The audience comes before the music, prostrating itself in front of the ethereal sounds, having been made more aware that perfection may very well exist, especially in the music of Mozart.

The classical period emerged from the Baroque period gradually. And there were many figures that contributed to this new musical art form. It has therefore been inexcusable to consign composers such as J. C. Bach, A. Salieri, and A. Rosetti as mere incidental characters, or Kleinmeister in the enthralling story of the classical era.

Unfortunately, the music world's general disregard for these figures have consequently resulted in them (and their works) being tacitly and inevitably relegated to a mass of mediocrity and obscurity in the midst of the Classical Period's acknowledged giants: Haydn and Mozart. This period however was so much more than that! Each of the characters in the story of musical history, (and this programme) had tumultuous stories of their own, revealed in the intricate beauty of their music. We will be quite surprised by the influence and respect each composer had for one another in their music and their lives.

Johann Christian Bach was the eleventh surviving child, and youngest son of J. S. Bach, considered by many to be the greatest composer ever. J. C. Bach was a formidable musical force in his own right. While studying in Italy, he captured the hearts of its people enjoying great success. He enjoyed the latter part of his fame in England where he found patronage under Queen Charlotte, as he composed operas at the renowned Kings theatre. He was known affectionately as the English Bach, or John Bach. His influence extended beyond England’s borders. In fact, he left a great impression on the Mozarts.

Accounts suggest that the young Mozart and Bach were inseparable during Mozart’s English tour. There are stories of the young Mozart sitting on Bach’s lap as both played at the organ back and forth in perfect sonata form as though one person were playing! Mozart in his own account praised the music of Bach. One can easily hear in Mozart’s work, Bach’s influence. But ‘Johnny’ Bach was not the only influence in Mozart’s career.

The prolific composer, Franz Anton Rösler was bohemian by birth, and changed his name early on in his career to Francesco Antonio Rosetti. He inherited from that land a wonderful national musical foundation, known throughout Europe for the virtuosic woodwind, and Horn players it produced. Rosetti spent much of his career in northern Germany, travelling extensively. Still, he remained a Czech at heart, and was loved by his countrymen. Some musicologists have suggested that Mozart may have modelled his four horn concerti after Rosetti’s, which he is best known for.

Rosetti’s admiration for Mozart must have been evident as he composed the all-but-forgotten Requiem Mass, which he conducted during a memorial service shortly after Mozart’s death in Prague, reportedly attended by thousands. It was Prague that premiered many of Mozart's great works during his final years, when Vienna seemed to disregard them. Mozart loved Prague, and Prague loved Mozart.

It is certainly natural and most appropriate to think of Mozart when the Classical Period comes to mind. For in Mozart’s compositions, we hear the natural culmination, and aspirations of all those composers (Salieri, J. C. Bach, Haydn, and Rosetti) so wonderfully distilled, and perfected. Mozart’s music was the very apex of the Classical form, and arguably all forms! Still, it is hoped that greater honour will be granted to those lesser known composers who contributed so much to music!

"I have never written the music that was in my heart to write; perhaps I never shall with this brain and these fingers, but I know that hereafter it will be written; when instead of these few inlets of the senses through which we now secure impressions from without, there shall be a flood of impressions from all sides; and instead of these few tones of our little octave, there shall be an infinite scale of harmonies - for I feel it - I am sure of it. This world of music, whose borders even now I have scarcely entered, is a reality, is immortal." W. A. Mozart

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