MOZART ’ S JUPITER
2017-2018 SEASON
OFF THE
CUFF :
A piece of music so wild , so barbaric and so brilliant , Stravinsky ’ s Rite of Spring is considered one of the most influential works of the 20th century . Join Marin Alsop and the BSO for a performance of Stravinsky ' s masterpiece .
Stay with us after the performance for a conductor-led Q & A session .
FRI , FEB 23 | 8:15 PM STRATHMORE SAT , FEB 24 | 7 PM MEYERHOFF
Supporting Sponsors : Xfinity / Comcast Business
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Writing for flute and harp with orchestra is a tricky assignment , for these two are delicate-toned instruments that must be handled with care . Mozart contrived for them to be equal partners throughout , perfectly balanced against each other and never swamped by the orchestra . In the sonata-form first movement , all the instrumental figures are light and sparkling , setting up the special color world of the soloists . Especially well-suited to the flute is the lyrical second theme that leaps gracefully upward . And in the development section , a haunting melody for the soloists intensifies this by carrying the harmonies into the minor mode .
The jewel of this concerto is the second-movement Andantino in F major , which boasts one of the most exquisitely beautiful themes Mozart ever created . Constantly yearning upward , it seems to reflect Mozart ’ s longings to leave the frustrations of Paris behind and perhaps be reunited with his beloved Aloysia . His ability to exploit the tears in the flute ’ s sound and to make every trill and ornament intensify the mood are mesmerizing .
The rondo form , with its recurring refrain and companion episodes , was born in France ; Mozart ’ s use of it for the finale seems to be a diplomatic gesture . It also adopts the rhythmic character of a very French dance , the gavotte — though dancers would be hard-pressed to match this breakneck tempo ! Uncorking one delicious tune after another and giving the harpist fabulous opportunities to sparkle , this rondo is pure enchantment .
Instrumentation : Two oboes , two horns and strings .
SYMPHONY NO . 41 IN C MAJOR
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Mozart did not actually call his last and most famous symphony , completed on August 10 , 1788 , the “ Jupiter .” According to his son Franz Xaver Mozart , it was the London impresario Johann Peter Salomon ( the same man who engineered Haydn ’ s spectacular London career in the 1790s ) who devised this nickname as a catchy advertising device for the symphony ’ s London performances in 1819 .
Why might Salomon have chosen the name of the thunderbolt-hurling chief of the Roman gods for this work ? Certainly it is the most magisterial of Mozart ’ s symphonies , with a ceremonial quality in keeping with its key of C major . Although today we think of C major as the most basic of keys ( all white notes on the piano ), in the late-18 th century it was usually associated with court and high church pomp since it was well suited to the valve-less trumpets of the period . The work ’ s ceremonial quality , however , extends far beyond key and scoring . Throughout the piece , there is a majesty of conception we find in no other Mozart symphony . Its melodic themes are more formal and less personal than those he created for its two companions , symphonies 39 and 40 ; Donald Francis Tovey , the dean of annotators , called them not only formal but “ formulas ”: stock musical gestures used over and over by composers in this era . The originality and greatness of the “ Jupiter ” are not to be found in the materials Mozart used but in how he used them . Above all , the finale , with its spectacular fugal deployment of themes shows Mozart ’ s genius at its zenith . In its stately progression to this greatest of all Mozart movements , the “ Jupiter ” becomes a grand summation of the splendors of 18 th -century music , incorporating the aesthetics of both its Baroque first half and its Classical conclusion .
The dramatic intensity of the sonata-form first movement reflects Mozart ’ s opera Don Giovanni , which had received its Viennese premiere just three months earlier . And , indeed , in the three major theme groups of this movement , we experience the emotional versatility that made Mozart a peerless operatic composer in his day . First , the bold opening music : imperial and full of courtly flourishes , with overtones of bombast and militarism ironically recalling the ongoing Austrian-Turkish
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