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Symphony No. 40 (Mozart)
Symphony No. 40 in G minor, K. 550 was written by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in 1788. It is sometimes referred to as the "Great G minor symphony", to distinguish it from the "Little G minor symphony", No. 25. The two are the only extant minor key symphonies Mozart wrote. History Composition The date of completion of this symphony is known exactly, since Mozart in his mature years kept a full catalog of his completed works; he entered the 40th Symphony into it on 25 July 1788. Work on the symphony occupied an exceptionally productive period of just a few weeks during which time he also completed the 39th and 41st symphonies (26 June and 10 August, respectively). Nikolaus Harnoncourt conjectured that Mozart composed the three symphonies as a unified work, pointing, among other things, to the fact that the Symphony No. 40, as the middle work, has no introduction (unlike No. 39) and does not have a finale of the scale of No. 41's. The 40th symp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition resulted in more than 800 works of virtually every genre of his time. Many of these compositions are acknowledged as pinnacles of the symphonic, concertante, chamber, operatic, and choral repertoire. Mozart is widely regarded as among the greatest composers in the history of Western music, with his music admired for its "melodic beauty, its formal elegance and its richness of harmony and texture". Born in Salzburg, in the Holy Roman Empire, Mozart showed prodigious ability from his earliest childhood. Already competent on keyboard and violin, he composed from the age of five and performed before European royalty. His father took him on a grand tour of Europe and then three trips to Italy. At 17, he was a musician at the Salzburg court b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gottfried Van Swieten
Gottfried Freiherr van Swieten (29 October 1733 – 29 March 1803) was a Dutch-born Austrian diplomat, librarian, and government official who served the Holy Roman Empire during the 18th century. He was an enthusiastic amateur musician and is best remembered today as the patron of several great composers of the Classical era, including Joseph Haydn, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and Ludwig van Beethoven. Life and career Van Swieten was born Godefridus Bernardus "Godfried" van Swieten in Leiden and grew up in the Dutch Republic to the age of 11. His father, Gerard van Swieten, was a physician who achieved a high reputation for raising standards of scientific research and instruction in the field of medicine. In 1745, the elder Van Swieten agreed to become personal physician to the Holy Roman Empress Maria Theresa and moved with his family to Vienna, where he also became the director of the court library and served in other government posts. The young Van Swieten was educated for nat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Natural Horn
The natural horn is a musical instrument that is the predecessor to the modern-day (French) horn (differentiated by its lack of valves). Throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth century the natural horn evolved as a separation from the trumpet by widening the bell and lengthening the tubes. It consists of a mouthpiece, long coiled tubing, and a large flared bell. This instrument was used extensively until the emergence of the valved horn in the early 19th century. Hand stopping technique The natural horn has several gaps in its harmonic range. To play chromatically, in addition to crooking the instrument into the right key, two additional techniques are required: ''bending'' and ''hand-stopping''. Bending a note is achieved by modifying the embouchure to raise or lower the pitch fractionally, and compensates for the slightly out-of-pitch " wolf tones" which all brass instruments have. Hand-stopping is a technique whereby the player can modify the pitch of a note by up to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bassoon
The bassoon is a woodwind instrument in the double reed family, which plays in the tenor and bass ranges. It is composed of six pieces, and is usually made of wood. It is known for its distinctive tone color, wide range, versatility, and virtuosity. It is a non-transposing instrument and typically its music is written in the bass and tenor clefs, and sometimes in the treble. There are two forms of modern bassoon: the Buffet (or French) and Heckel (or German) systems. It is typically played while sitting using a seat strap, but can be played while standing if the player has a harness to hold the instrument. Sound is produced by rolling both lips over the reed and blowing direct air pressure to cause the reed to vibrate. Its fingering system can be quite complex when compared to those of other instruments. Appearing in its modern form in the 19th century, the bassoon figures prominently in orchestral, concert band, and chamber music literature, and is occasionally heard in pop, r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oboe
The oboe ( ) is a type of double reed woodwind instrument. Oboes are usually made of wood, but may also be made of synthetic materials, such as plastic, resin, or hybrid composites. The most common oboe plays in the treble or soprano range. A soprano oboe measures roughly long, with metal keys, a conical bore and a flared bell. Sound is produced by blowing into the reed at a sufficient air pressure, causing it to vibrate with the air column. The distinctive tone is versatile and has been described as "bright". When the word ''oboe'' is used alone, it is generally taken to mean the treble instrument rather than other instruments of the family, such as the bass oboe, the cor anglais (English horn), or oboe d'amore. Today, the oboe is commonly used as orchestral or solo instrument in symphony orchestras, concert bands and chamber ensembles. The oboe is especially used in classical music, film music, some genres of folk music, and is occasionally heard in jazz, rock, pop, an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Western Concert Flute
The Western concert flute is a family of transverse (side-blown) woodwind instruments made of metal or wood. It is the most common variant of the flute. A musician who plays the flute is called a flautist (in British English), flutist (in American English), or simply a flute player. This type of flute is used in many ensembles, including concert bands, military bands, marching bands, orchestras, flute ensembles, and occasionally jazz bands and big bands. Other flutes in this family include the piccolo, the alto flute, and the bass flute. A large repertory of works has been composed for flute. Predecessors The flute is one of the oldest and most widely used wind instruments. The precursors of the modern concert flute were keyless wooden transverse flutes similar to modern fifes. These were later modified to include between one and eight keys for chromatic notes. "Six-finger" D is the most common pitch for keyless wooden transverse flutes, which continue to be used to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fulda Symphonic Orchestra
The Fulda Symphonic Orchestra (German: Fuldaer Symphonisches Orchester) is an amateur orchestra based in Fulda, Germany. The group was founded in 1999 by Karsten Aßmann (orchestra manager), Albert Flügel (concertmaster), Dorothea Heller (co-principal woodwind player), and the music director Simon Schindler; Aßmann and Schindler were only 21 and 23 at the time. The more than 100 players are mostly amateurs, with an admixture of professionals. The players range in age from 16 to 70. The group performs one concert per year, for which they rehearse for two weekends. Virtually all of the players either live in Fulda or grew up there and return for the concerts. The annual performance is a benefit concert for a selected charitable cause, supported by the Rotary Club Rotary International is one of the largest service organizations in the world. Its stated mission is to "provide service to others, promote integrity, and advance world understanding, goodwill, and peace through ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Michael Puchberg
__NOTOC__ Johann Michael von Puchberg (September 21, 1741, Zwettl, Lower Austria – January 21, 1822, Vienna) was a textile merchant who lived in Vienna in the 18th and early 19th centuries. He is remembered as a friend of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart whom he lent considerable sums of money during a difficult period in the composer's life. The loans to Mozart Around 1788, Mozart's financial situation had worsened; it was in general a bad time for musicians in Vienna, owing to the war with Turkey that began the previous year; Mozart biographers also often blame imprudent financial lifestyle decisions made by the Mozart family. Mozart wrote to Puchberg a series of "begging letters," of increasing desperate tone. Puchberg responded with a series of loans, ranging in size from 30 to 300 florins, and totalling about 1400 florins. Andrew Steptoe (1984) has discussed the series of 21 letters Mozart wrote to Puchberg asking for loans. He notes that "Mozart's early requests stress the bond of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Otto Erich Deutsch
Otto Erich Deutsch (5 September 1883 – 23 November 1967) was an Austrian musicologist. He is known for compiling the first comprehensive catalogue of Franz Schubert's compositions, first published in 1951 in English, with a revised edition published in 1978 in German. It is from this catalogue that the ''D'' numbers used to identify Schubert's works derive. Life Deutsch was born in Vienna on 5 September 1883 in a Jewish family."Otto Deutsch" profile at the Following his studies of art history and literature in Vienna and , he worked as an assistant at the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Johann Stadler
Johann Nepomuk Stadler (6 May 1755, Bruck an der Leitha – 2 May 1804, Vienna) was an Austrian clarinet and basset horn player and younger brother of the clarinet player Anton Stadler. Like his more famous brother Anton, Johann Nepomuk Stadler started out as an employee of the Russian ambassador in Vienna, Dmitry Mikhaylovich Galitzine (1721–1793). In February 1782 Emperor Joseph II, who did not want the Stadler brothers to leave Vienna, issued a special decree to have them hired as members of the Vienna Court Orchestra, where Johann Nepumuk Stadler played first clarinet to his brother's second. Along with his brother, he made an acquaintance with Mozart. In 1801 Ludwig van Beethoven wrote the basset horn part in his ballet The Creatures of Prometheus ''The Creatures of Prometheus'' (german: Die Geschöpfe des Prometheus, links=no), Op. 43, is a ballet composed in 1801 by Ludwig van Beethoven following the libretto of Salvatore Viganò. The ballet premiered on 28 Mar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anton Stadler
Anton Paul Stadler (28 June 1753, in Bruck an der Leitha – 15 June 1812, in Vienna) was an Austrian clarinet and basset horn player for whom Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart wrote, amongst others, both his Clarinet Quintet (K 581) and Clarinet Concerto (K 622). Stadler's name is inextricably linked to Mozart's compositions for these two instruments. Early life and career Stadler was born in 1753 in a small town near Vienna; in 1756 his family moved into the city where his brother Johann was born. Even though both became famous as clarinet and basset horn players, the ''Journal des Luxus und der Moden'' described Anton in 1801 as 'a great artist on many wind instruments', and in a letter to Ignatz von Beecke, applying for a position in the Wallerstein orchestra (6 November 1781), Anton himself writes that they 'can also play a little violin and viol'. In the same letter he stated that both he and his brother 'could supplement orchestral skills with duets, concertos, wind octets and ba ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Antonio Salieri
Antonio Salieri (18 August 17507 May 1825) was an Italian classical composer, conductor, and teacher. He was born in Legnago, south of Verona, in the Republic of Venice, and spent his adult life and career as a subject of the Habsburg monarchy. Salieri was a pivotal figure in the development of late 18th-century opera. As a student of Florian Leopold Gassmann, and a protégé of Christoph Willibald Gluck, Salieri was a cosmopolitan composer who wrote operas in three languages. Salieri helped to develop and shape many of the features of operatic compositional vocabulary, and his music was a powerful influence on contemporary composers. Appointed the director of the Italian opera by the Habsburg court, a post he held from 1774 until 1792, Salieri dominated Italian-language opera in Vienna. During his career, he also spent time writing works for opera houses in Paris, Rome, and Venice, and his dramatic works were widely performed throughout Europe during his lifetime. As the Aus ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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