Ravinia 2025 Issue 5

WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART (1756–1791) Overture to La clemenza di Tito , K. 621 Scored for two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, two horns, two trumpets, timpani, and strings Mozart composed his final Italian opera seria , La clemenza di Tito ( The Clemency of Titus ), for the coronation of Leopold II as king of Bohemia in 1791. Pietro Metastasio’s classic libretto about the Roman emperor Titus, neatly abridged and updated by Caterino Mazzolà, provided appro- priately regal subject matter for the royal cele- bration. The Prague National Theater, site of several earlier triumphs, mounted the first pro- duction on September 6. Mozart left Vienna for Prague with his wife Constanze and the com- poser and copyist Franz Xaver Sussmayr on Au- gust 19 or 20. Early biographies by Niemetschek and Nissen report that he began the opera on the stage coach and finished the score 18 days later. The overture, one of the last items com- posed before the premiere, was written on man- uscript paper only available in Prague. In the opera, Vitellia (daughter of the dethroned emperor Vitellius) believes herself the only suit- able bride for Titus. The emperor, however, loves the Jewish queen Berenice. An outraged Vitellia orders Sextus, a friend of Titus who is blinded by love for her, to assassinate the emperor. News arrives that Titus will marry a Roman woman instead, and Vitellia calls off the plot. When the emperor seems inclined toward Servilia, the sis- ter of Sextus, Vitellia again harasses her young lover into setting Rome ablaze and carrying out the murder. Vitellia learns that Titus has chosen her as consort, but she can only stop half of the scheme. In the end, Titus forgives all the con- spirators who plotted his demise. Leopold II, King of Bohemia Piano Concerto No. 22 in E-flat major, K. 482 Scored for flute, two clarinets, two bassoons, two horns, two trumpets, timpani, strings and solo piano Mozart participated in a December 23 benefit concert of the Tonkünstler-Societät featuring Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf ’s oratorio Ester . A newspaper advertisement announced that “During the entr’acte, a newly composed clavier concerto will be played by W.A. Mozart.” The recently completed Piano Concerto in E-flat major, K. 482—recorded in the pianist-compos- er’s personal works catalog on December 16, 1785—very likely was the composition presented on that occasion. A letter from Leopold Mozart to his daughter Nannerl dated January 13, 1786, offers further confirmation: “[Your brother] said that he gave, without much preparation, three subscription concerts to 120 subscribers, [and] that he composed for this purpose a new piano concerto in E-flat, in which (a rather unusual occurrence!) he had to repeat the Andante .” The unexpected December performances might have forced Mozart to unveil one of three piano concertos intended for the 1786 Lenten concert season, a trilogy including works in A major (K. 488) and C minor (K. 503). The three scores provide evidence of hasty work: sketchy solo parts, few notated cadenzas (only the first move- ment of K. 482) and fragmentary beginnings to several discarded movements. This carelessness, combined with a conspicu- ous reduction in public performances, herald- ed Mozart directing more of his efforts toward the stage. Two new theatrical works debuted in the spring of 1786: the Singspiel Der Schauspiel- direktor ( The Impresario ) and the comic opera Le nozze di Figaro ( The Marriage of Figaro ). A martial fanfare, more characteristic of works in the key of C major than E-flat, opens the Alle- gro . Mozart changes tonal color in the subse- quent phrase for horns and bassoons. Emphasis Leopold Mozart on wind writing remains a prominent feature of the concerto, the composer’s first to include clarinets in its original scoring. Upon entering, the solo piano maintains this exuberant atmo- sphere until the development, which grows mo- mentarily gloomy and threatening. Mozart exercises his lyrical (more accurately, operatic) expressivity and developmental inge- nuity in the Andante , a collection of variations on a melancholy C-minor theme. The rondo fi- nale casts aside any gloom with an effervescent refrain theme heard several times. One contrast- ing theme, an interpolated minuet, interrupts the lively rhythmic pacing that otherwise pre- dominates in this movement. Symphony No. 41 in C major, K. 551 (“Jupiter”) Scored for flute, two oboes, two bassoons, two horns, two trumpets, timpani, and strings Symphonic composition almost completely disappeared from Mozart’s professional activ- ities after the composer-pianist settled in Vi- enna in 1781. This sudden drop-off reflected a shift in his interest toward “theatrical” forms of instrumental (concerto) and vocal (opera) music. Whenever concert programs required a symphony, Mozart tended to revise works written earlier in Salzburg. Viennese musical society obviously supported his new endeavors until approximately 1788, when signs of finan- cial desperation began to appear. The strongest indication of hardship occurred in his public, and probably demoralizing, an- nouncement of publication delays caused by poor subscription numbers. Furthermore, Mo- zart organized a last-minute series of public concerts during the summer of 1788 in order to generate income. He also set sights on patron- age outside the confines of the imperial capital, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart by Joseph Lange (1782–83) RAVINIAMAGAZINE • AUG. 4 – AUG. 17, 2025 70