Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)

Overture to Cosi fan tutte, K. 588

Cosi fan tutte (1790) is the third in the great trilogy of operas composed by Mozart with Lorenzo da Ponte as his librettist, the others being The Marriage of Figaro (1786) and Don Giovanni (1787).  All three are comedies with Cosi being the most lighthearted and ebullient in its charm. The title, really untranslatable, is usually read as “Women are like that” or “So do they all,” and the overture is a short and delightful introduction to the story which deals with the vicissitudes of the male/female relationship.  After a brief introduction, there is heard the theme which is sung later to the words of the title.  The presto section gets the business of the overture under way and exudes good humour and exuberance.  Towards the end, there is a repetition of the “cosi fan tutte” theme and the overture is brought to a formal close.

Mozart

Sinfonia Concertante in E-flat major, K. 297b

     Allegro

     Adagio

     Andantino con Variazione

Sharon Lacey, oboe

Sharon Knox Deuby, clarinet

Charles Hall, bassoon

Brian Brown, horn

A sinfonia concertante is a work in two or three movements for a varied group of soloists and orchestra, a kind of marriage of symphony and concerto.  The group of soloists, which may be anywhere from two to nine or more, is treated like a single solo instrument in a classical concerto.  The orchestra takes the role as an accompanist and the emphasis is on melody, but the development of the material assumes a symphonic character.  The work is designed to treat each soloist equally and feature each of them in distinctive passages.  Sometimes the wind quartet is treated as a group playing its own chamber music to orchestral accompaniment. 

After an extended orchestral introduction, the solo quartet is introduced as they might be in a classical concerto, with each of them playing music uniquely suited to their instrument’s sonorities and capabilities.  Toward the end of the first movement, there is a cadenza (a virtuoso passage) in which Mozart explores the distinctive qualities of the four wind instruments.

The second movement is a graceful, leisurely adagio – music of elegance and refinement. After an orchestral introduction, the wind quartet takes over blending solos and ensemble in a variety of beautiful colors. The last movement is a set of ten variations on a theme stated by the oboe and each variation features one or two instruments  answered by the full quartet.  A lighthearted coda brings the work to a close.

George Frideric Handel (1685-1759)

 “Let the Bright Seraphim in Burning Row” from Samson (1741)

Toward the end of Handel’s great oratorio after Samson has died along with the destruction of his enemies, Manoah, Samson’s father, calls upon the people to cease their grieving and lamentations.  The sense of triumph is expressed in this magnificent trumpet/voice aria characterized by joyousness, brilliance and lofty inspiration.  Due to its being sung by Kiri Te Kanawa at the Royal Wedding of Prince Charles and Diana, this exultant aria achieved almost “pop” status and has become a standard at weddings.

ISRAELITE WOMAN
Let the bright Seraphim in
burning row their loud uplifted
angel-trumpets blow.

Let the cherubic host, in tuneful
choir, touch their immortal
harps with golden wire.

Let the bright Seraphim in
burning row their loud uplifted
angel-trumpets blow

“Endless Pleasure” from Semele (1744)

In the first act of Handel’s opera, Semele, daughter of Cadmus, pleads to Jupiter to rescue her from an unwanted marriage.  She is heard by the King of the gods and is translated to Mt. Olympus from which her voice is heard in a joyous aria.

SEMELE
Endless pleasure,
endless love,
Semele enjoys above!
On her bosom
Jove reclining,
Useless now his thunder
lies ; To her arms
his bolts resigning,
And his lightning
to her eyes

Mozart

“Ruhe sanft mein holdes Leben” from Zaide, K.336b

Zaide is an unfinished opera written in 1780 to satisfy Emperor Joseph II who was in the process of setting up an opera company for the purpose of performing German opera. One condition required of the composer to join this company was that he should write a comic opera. At Salzburg in 1779 Mozart began work on a new "rescue" opera, Zaide. It contains spoken dialogue, which also classifies it as a Singspiel (literally, "singing play"). This beautiful aria is the only part of the work which is even remotely familiar.

“Gently rest, my dearest love,

Sleep until your happiness awakes;

Here, I will give you my portrait,

See how kindly it smiles at you.

You gentle dreams, rock him to sleep,

And may the imaginings

Of his dreams of love

Become at last reality.”

Concert aria, “No, no, che non sei capace” K. 419

This was an insertion aria for Il curioso indiscreto by Pasquale Anfossi, a now obscure Italian composer and  contemporary of Mozart. The aria is a real show-stopper with its exposed high notes, powerful runs and trills all expressing the fury and hate of Clorinda who addresses her unfaithful suitor:

“No, you are incapable of courtesy, of honor, and are wrong in boasting that your heart burns with love for me.  Go, I abhor you, ingrate, and abhor myself even more that for an instant I loved you, that I had sighed for you.”

Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847)

Symphony No. 4 in A major, op. 90, “Italian”

The “Italian” symphony evolved from Mendelssohn’s first visit to Italy in 1830 and the joy he felt: “Italy, at last!  What I have all my life considered as the greatest possible felicity is now begun,”  In spite of his enthusiasm, there is nothing in the symphony to suggest Italian music, with the exception of the carnival dance saltarello in the fourth movement. Although he was overcome by the ancient Roman ruins, Venice, the Colosseum and the Vatican, he remained curiously unmoved by the Italian people and their society, spending most of his time in the company of Germans. It took him over two years to complete the score, but he was never fully satisfied with it and continued to revise it until his death.

From the beginning there is a characteristically spontaneous flow of melody, all light and air, with the violins being given the principal theme accompanied by the horns.  In contrast, the second movement is a doleful processional the beginning of which Sir George Grove likened to “the cry of a muezzin from his minaret.” The principal theme is presented by oboe, bassoons, and violas, but is soon taken up by the violins and after some development is brought back to conclude the movement.

The graceful third movement is in the form of a scherzo, but there are echoes of the classical minuet style as well.  The last movement, as indicated earlier, is what makes the symphony “Italian.”  Here the musical subject is based on the saltarello, a rowdy and vigorous dance done by men and women in pairs, in which arms and legs are used as violently as possible, all movements of a quite abandoned character. Mendelssohn most likely saw this dance performed many times in Rome and here captured the vitality and spirit of it. This last movement acquired a cinematic fame in the film “Breaking Away,” in the sequence where a young cyclist races behind a speeding truck.  The breathless energy of the music was a perfect accompaniment.