Mozart: Father and Son

No. 334 of the ongoing ITYWLTMT series of audio montages can be found in our archives at https://archive.org/details/pcast334

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This past Monday was Family Day here in Ontario, and it justifies, in part, this week’s montage dedicated to the Mozart family. In a way, this is territory we covered already in a past montage from December 2018, when we featured works from three generations of Mozarts: Father, Son and Grandson.

Leopold Mozart is primarily known as the father and mentor of his son Wolfgang, but he was a composer of importance in his own right, becoming the Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg’s court composer in 1757 and vice chapelmaster a few years later. His “Treatise on the Fundamental Principles of Violin Playing” was published in 1756 (the year of Wolfgang’s birth) and was long a standard text and was widely reprinted and translated.

Since he was court composer, you expect that his output was massive, taking in symphonies, concertos, cantatas, oratorios, masses, various chamber works, songs, sonatas, and numerous other works; he ceased composing regularly in the early 1760s to concentrate on the education of his elder daughter Nannerl and his son Wolfgang.

Leopold's best-known works, considered typical of his output, are the ones least representative of it: The Musical Sleigh-Ride, The Peasant Wedding, the Toy Symphony are oddities. His best works, those written for the Church, are virtually unknown and of his symphonies, concertos and serenades, few are played and fewer still were recorded.

The Sinfonia di caccia is a genre piece written for a specific occasion – in this case an undisclosed hunting party. In addition to the shouts, dog barks and raucous horn playing, Leopold also makes provision in the score of the first movement for several gun-shots. The combined effect of the brilliant horn writing, which is based on a traditional horn-call, and the unexpected and highly imaginative sound effects is stunning. There are few pieces of music which have so successfully and memorably captured the excitement and thrill of the hunt. The second movement, by comparison, is far more restrained although not without its own deft touches. The extensive use of echo, while not original, is highly effective in conjuring up a sense of the great outdoors. With the concluding Minuet, however, the action returns indoors, albeit with a reminiscence of the hunting field in the form of prominent writing for the four horns.

Although little of Leopold Mozart's music is now played, it has of course attracted a great deal of attention over the years as scholars have searched for influences on his son's work. Leopold Mozart may have played a quite major role in the composition of Wolfgang's earliest works but his influence as composer on his son was probably minimal.

To match up with the Leopold piece with prominent horns, I chose to include two horn concertos, Wolfgang’s third and fourth. These were written in the mid-1780’s for his friend Joseph Leutgeb whom he had known since childhood. Leutgeb was a skilled player, as the works are very difficult to perform on the natural horn of the period, requiring lip trills, much hand-stopping, and rapid tonguing.

The concerti are performed, in keeping with its usual “democratic” tradition, by two different soloists, both members of the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. That tradition also includes performing without a conductor. To complete the montage, from the same CD anthology of wind concertos, I included his first flute concerto.

I think you will love this music too.