Composer of the Week: Mozart

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Composer of the Week

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Composer of the Week - Brand

An informative guide to composers' lives and their music.

An informative and accessible guide to composers' lives and their music.

Composer of the Week: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791): Stirring the Pot

Stirring the Pot

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)

BBC Radio 3 - Composer of the Week, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791), Stirring the Pot

Donald Macleod explores Mozart's characterisation of the troublemakers in his operas.

Donald Macleod explores Mozart's characterisation of the troublemakers in his operas Die Zauberflote, Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail, Le nozze di Figaro, Idomeneo and Don Giovanni.

Donald Macleod looks at the characterisation of the trouble-makers, an essential element of any good drama, in Mozart's operas Die Zauberflöte, Die Entführung aus dem Serail, le nozze di Figaro, Idomeneo and Don Giovanni. 

Born in 1756, the theatre was a life-long passion for Mozart. Starting at the tender age of just 11, in the space of 22 years he produced an astonishing 24 theatrical works. His destiny was to follow in his father’s footsteps, as a court musician. Instead, by 1781, after a disagreement over his frequent absences from court, Mozart parted ways with his employer, the Elector of Cologne. He left Salzburg and servitude behind, to set himself up in Vienna, a thriving centre for music. The following year he triumphed with his comic singspiel, Die Entführung aus dem Serail. The succession of works that followed include many of the mainstays of operatic repertory, among them The Magic Flute, which was completed in the year of his death, at the age of 35 in 1791.

This week Donald Macleod finds connecting points between the characters Mozart created for the stage and  the composer's own experiences in life. He examines how Mozart struggled to be a dutiful son, and how he tackles honour and duty in Idomeneo, Lucio Silla and Mitridate. The ideas of enlightenment that influenced Mozart's own views find expression in the balance of power he depicts between servants and the ruling classes in The Marriage of Figaro. The composer’s thorny path to marriage with Constanze also finds him examining the complexities of love in Die Enführung aus dem Serail and Così fan tutte. The series ends with Mozart's masterly representation of temptation and evil, as characterised by the ultimate bad boy Don Giovanni and the scheming and manipulative Queen of the Night. 

In this final episode, The Queen of the Night has a fit of vengeful rage, Osmin is the shady overseer of the Pasha's harem, Marcellina and Bartolo team up to cause trouble for the engaged servants Susanna and Figaro. Monostatos gets his come-uppance, Electra's venomous rage is given free rein, and hell awaits Mozart's most famous baddie, Don Giovanni. 

Die Zauberflöte  (Act 2) 
Der Hölle Rache kocht in meinem Herzen
Erika Miklósa, soprano, Queen of the night 
Mahler Chamber Orchestra 
Claudio Abbado, conductor 

Die Entführung aus dem Serail (Act 1) 
Solche hergelauf’ne Laffen
Alan Ewing, bass, Osmin
Les Arts Florissants 
William Christie, director 

Le nozze di Figaro (Act 1) 
La Vendetta… via, resti servita 
Kurt Moll, bass, Bartolo
Jane Barbié, mezzo soprano, Marcellina 
Lucia Popp, soprano, Susanna 
London Philharmonic Orchestra 
Georg Solti, conductor 

Idomeneo (Act 3) 
Ha vinto amore …. d’Oreste, d’Aiace 
Luca Tittoto, bass La voce 
Richard Croft, tenor, Idomeneo
Bernarda Fink, mezzo soprano, Idamante
Sunhae Im, soprano, Ilia 
Kenneth Tarver, tenor, Arbace 
Alexandrina Pendatchanska, soprano, Elettra
Freiburg Baroque Orchestra 
Rene Jacobs, conductor 

Die Zauberflöte  (Act 1, finale) 
Wie stark ist nicht dein zauberton ...Es lebe Sarastro! Sarastro soll leben
Christoph Strehl, tenor, Tamino
Dorothea Röschmann, soprano, Pamina
Hanno Müller-Brachmann, bass baritone, Papageno
Kurt Azesberger, tenor, Monostatos
René Pape, bass, Sarastro 
Matthias Bernhold, Martin Olbertz, Tobias Beyer, actors, slaves 
Arnold Schoenberg Choir 
Mahler Chamber Orchestra 
Claudio Abbado, conductor 

Don Giovanni (Act 2 Finale II) 
Già mensa è preparata  ... Ah dov’è il perfido? 
Ildebrando d’Arcangelo, baritone, Don Giovanni 
Luca Pisaroni, bass- baritone, Leporello 
Joyce di Donato, mezzo soprano, Donna Elvira 
Diana Damrau, soprano, Donna Anna 
Mojca Erdmann, soprano, Zerlina
Rolando Villazón, tenor,  Don Ottavio 
Konstantin Wolff, bass-baritone, Masetto 
Vokalensemble Rastatt
Mahler Chamber Orchestra 
Yannick Nézet-Seguin, conductor

Producer Johannah Smith for BBC Wales

Composer of the Week: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)

Live music and the arts: broadcasts more live music than any other radio network. Classical music is its core. Genres include world and new music, jazz, speech and drama.

Donald Macleod finds connecting points between Mozart's life experiences and his operas.

This week Donald Macleod finds connecting points between the characters Mozart created for the stage and the composer's own experiences in life.

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