Johann Stamitz, Clarinet Concerto

On one of his many trips through Central Europe to secure a position in a renowned orchestra, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart landed in Mannheim on October 30, 1777. The city enjoyed an intense musical life under the patronage of Elector Carl Theodor, and its orchestra was one of the best in Germany, so the 21-year-old Mozart's aspirations could not have been better directed. Unfortunately, despite befriending several musicians in the orchestra, including the Konzertmeister, the answer was the usual: "there was no place for him at the moment".

Mannheim School

A pity. Because if there had been "room", the famous orchestral ensemble that became a school under the title of Mannheim School could have increased its glory even more, when looking back and being able to say that among its members there was the most brilliant composer in history. 
Not so, but the German composers and musicians who wrote music for Carl Theodor's court from the middle of the 18th century until the end of the classical era, did blaze a trail. Among them, the Czech violinist and composer Johann Stamitz stands out.

Johann Stamitz, an innovator

Little is known about his life, other than he was born in Nemecky Brod (Bohemia) in mid-June 1717 and that he took lessons from his father. Whatever his path may have been, in 1742 we see him become a respected violinist in the Mannheim orchestra.

After a few years, he was appointed its conductor. It was under his leadership that the orchestra became so renowned, for the Czech composer's innovations played an important role in the development of the symphony as a genre.

Johann Stamitz (1717 - 1757)

To Johann Stamitz, for example, we owe the modern structure of the symphonic genre structured in four movements. Add to this the construction of the first movement with the structure of what later became known as "sonata form", with the first theme, second, development, and recapitulation.

Stamitz died in Mannheim very young, at the age of 39. His musician sons, Carl and Anton, will continue the task.

The oeuvre

During his short life, in addition to the obligatory sacred music, Stamitz produced about 72 symphonies, ten orchestral trios, and numerous concertos for solo instrument.
Among the latter, the Clarinet Concerto in B-flat major stands out. A large part of the original manuscripts have been lost, so it is impossible to date its composition, let alone venture a "premiere" date, other than the unknown date when Carl Theodor, the Elector, heard it for the first time.

Movements: 

(tempi are in brackets because the composer did not indicate them)

00        [Allegro] 

07:54   [Andante sostenuto]

12:04   [Rondo (Poco allegro)]

The performance is by the Chinese artist Jaehee Choi, accompanied by the New Fine Arts Project Orchestra.

Chopin, Ballade No 2 in F major

Most likely, Chopin finished the Ballade No. 2 in Majorca, while staying there in the company of George Sand and her children, in the winter of 1838-39. Or perhaps he only took care of its revision. In a letter to his friend Fontana, dated January 1839, Chopin tells him that he is sending the Ballade to Camille Pleyel, his publisher in Paris, along with a good batch of other pieces, the complete Preludes among them.

A hesitant dedication
It is well known that the work is dedicated to Robert Schumann, in retribution for the German composer's dedication to Chopin of his Kreisleriana, completed a few months earlier. Less known is that Chopin never played the work of his colleague, whose output he was reticent about, even though the generous Schumann spared no praise for almost all of Chopin's oeuvre for many years.

And truth be told, the purpose of dedicating the ballade to Schumann does not appear at all categorical or unrenounceable, as we read later in the letter to Fontana, already mentioned:

R. Schumann (1810 - 1856)

"[...] I would like my Preludes to be dedicated to Pleyel, and my Second Ballade to Schumann. Now, if Pleyel does not want to give up the dedication of the Ballade, then dedicate the preludes to Schumann..."

And the trade-off may have been for the better, for while Schumann greeted the Ballade No. 1 with fervent enthusiasm, he was somewhat less enthusiastic about the Second, which he found a bit "less artistic".

All in all, what has been pointed out should not be understood as Chopin's dislike of Schumann (which would be, on Chopin's part, at least an extravagance). It is simply that, as creators, the two artists were at antipodes, even if they were strictly contemporaries.

Chopin, young.
A painting by Ary Scheffer

Ballade No 2 in F major, opus 32
And they truly were at the antipodes, if we recall that for Chopin music was only music, unlike Schumann, who could find inspiration for musical creation in poetry. However (the perennial contradiction of a creative soul) Chopin confessed to his friend and ardent commentator that in composing the four Ballades he had taken inspiration from the reading of poems by his compatriot Adam Mickiewicz.

The "source"
For Ballade No. 2, the source poem is "Switez," which tells the story of Polish maidens from a besieged city who, to avoid falling prey to their captors, sink into the earth surrounding a lake. Turned into mysterious flowers, they adorn its shores ever since.

The piece is built on the alternation of two themes, one idyllic and the other a tempestuous burst of rapid arpeggios. The final bars evoke young girls turned into flowers.

The rendition is by the brilliant Chinese pianist Yundi Li, the youngest winner of the International Chopin Competition, in 2000, at the age of 18.

Von Weber, Overture to "Der Freischütz"

Carl Maria von Weber, cousin of Constance, Mozart's wife, was only 27 years old when he became director of the Prague Opera in 1813. He stayed there until 1817 when he went to Dresden to organize and conduct the German Opera. This task would force him to engage in a hard fight with the Italian lyric theater that in those days was monopolizing the audiences. By the way, they considered the idea of a German opera almost a contradiction in terms, despite the existing brilliant tradition of the singspiel, exemplified by Mozart's unparalleled Magic Flute.

Der Freischütz - A landmark opera
However, it was precisely under these circumstances that Weber was to compose a pivotal opera in the evolution of German dramatic music, thus paving the way for the emergence of Richard Wagner's proposal embodied in his "musical dramas" – so called by its author – thirty years later.

The opera in three acts Der Freischütz was begun on July 2, 1817, and finished on May 13, 1820. Regarded as the first German romantic opera, it premiered in Berlin in 1821 under the direction of its author, with immediate success. Shortly afterward it premiered with similar results in Vienna and Dresden.

Carl Maria von Weber

(1786 - 1826)

The Plot

True to his spirit of reading popular legends, Weber took inspiration from a very old Central European story centered on the figure of the "Freischütz", a hunter who makes a pact with the devil to obtain arrows that never miss the target, even if it is the devil himself. To the popular story, Weber added some romantic ingredients: the hunter is in love, and in his struggle to win the love of his beloved he turns to the Devil so that the girl sees him as the most skilled hunter in the whole region.

Today, the work is still performed quite regularly. And its beautiful Overture, as a concert piece, is a must for orchestral ensembles all over the world.

The Orquesta Joven (a very young one), a fraction of the Orquesta Sinfónica de Galicia, conducted by Rubén Gimeno.

C.M. von Weber, "Invitation to the Dance"

During his short life (39 years and months) Carl Maria von Weber wrote three operas, all three a success with audiences and critics, thus allowing him to be recognized as the initiator of German romantic opera. But he was also a brilliant pianist, and for the instrument, he wrote sonatas and concertos, as well as a number of short pieces, among which his most popular piano work, Invitation to the Dance, stands out.

Published in 1819, the work is dedicated to his wife, the singer Caroline Brandt, whom he had married two years earlier. At the time, the composer was director of the prestigious Dresden Opera, working intensely on the writing of the work that would be his greatest contribution, the opera Der Freischütz (The Freeshooter), which successfully premiered in 1821.

Carl M. von Weber (1786 - 1826)

The first concert waltz
Invitation to the Dance is the first concert waltz in the history of music, that is to say, it is the first piece in waltz form written to be listened to rather than danced. And despite not being danceable, the piece, with programmatic content, tells the story of a dance: a young man invites a beautiful girl to dance, who graciously accepts. After fluttering around the ballroom to the rhythm of a sequence of waltzes, they say goodbye and never see each other again.

In 1841, Hector Berlioz developed an orchestral version that helped to popularize the piece even more.
Presented here is the original piano version, highly demanding for the performer, not so much for the audience, who can joyfully attend to the generous sequence of simple waltzes. Be careful, however, not to burst into applause after the last resolute chords, as there is still a quiet coda, the real finale, to be heard.

The rendition is by the Russian pianist Peter Laul, at the Marinsky Theater in St. Petersburg.

Mozart, Piano Concerto No 2, K. 39

The salon, a meeting place for sophisticated social circles in Paris, played an important role in the cultural life of the 18th century. People talked there about literature, painting, music, poetry. Also about decoration, "good dress", and "good taste". By the middle of the century, good taste, or good tone, had imposed the tradition of inviting people to tea "English style". A sort of cocktail of our days, but at an earlier hour. It was accompanied by succulent dishes, which were consumed while listening to a group of musicians invited for the occasion.

At the Palais du Temple
The painting by Ollivier that heads this article illustrates the scene. Accompanied by his full court, the Prince de Conti celebrates an "English tea" in the four mirrors hall of the Palais du Temple, in Paris. On the left, as part of the group of musicians, a child is seated at the harpsichord... is Mozart. The painter is paying homage to the visit of the Mozart children to Paris in 1763. Wolfgang was then seven years old.

The pastiche
In Mozart's time, it was a widespread custom to give a "public" concert with fragments of various works. Gradually it also became a healthy custom (as widespread as it was) to compose one's own work by taking pieces from different authors. It was called "pasticcio", as it resembled the so-called operas, constructed with different arias to suit the abilities of different singers. Mozart was no stranger to pastiche, at least in his first four concertos. But that was the way of composing. Whether it was good or bad was another matter.

Piano Concerto No. 2 in B flat major
Along with three others (K 37, K 40-41), Mozart would have composed it at the age of eleven, back in Salzburg after the extensive family tour for more than three years through Europe.
The vast majority of scholars attribute it to Mozart, although it is important to note that the manuscript is almost entirely in the handwriting of Leopold, the father. However, all agree that the piano part may have been improvised by Wolfgang and committed to paper by Leopold.

Movements:
The materials Mozart used to construct the concerto for piano and orchestra come from sonatas attributed to a pair of German virtuosi whom Mozart admired, and whose work he may have encountered in Paris.

00:00   Allegro spiritoso
05:12   Andante staccato
11:05   Molto allegro

The performance (audio only) is by the excellent American pianist Murray Perahia, accompanied by the English Chamber Orchestra.