Sunday Morning Concert: Beethoven & Mozart

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)

Violin Concerto in D, op. 61 (1806)

- Allegro, ma non troppo
- Larghetto
- Rondo. Allegro

Beethoven's famous 1806 Violin Concerto was not his first work for violin and orchestra. He had already written an early violin concerto and two romances for violin and orchestra as preliminary studies. Although now ironclad repertoire, the Violin Concerto was not an instant success. At its Vienna premiere in 1808, audiences were moderately enthusiastic and the press critical. Seventeen years after Beethoven's death, twelve-year-old Joseph Joachim played the work in London with his own cadences and this became a grandiose success. Joachim became an ardent advocate and Brahms and Tchaikovsky wrote their violin concertos after Beethoven's example also in D major.

The concerto begins with four soft timpani beats, after which the woodwinds play a lyrical theme. After this, the strings play surprising notes and the orchestral introduction continues exuberantly. Interestingly, Beethoven returns a certain melody in both major and minor, which has a bittersweet effect. The second movement follows the earlier romances Beethoven wrote and is a study in orchestral coloring. After a few forte chords, the movement moves seamlessly into the joyful rondo. The energetic final movement is reminiscent of Haydn in its cheerfulness and humor.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)

Symphony No. 35 in D, KV 385 'Haffner' (1782)

- Allegro con spirito
- Andante
- Menuetto
- Presto

Mozart wrote his 35th symphony commissioned by the Haffner family of Salzburg for whom he had also composed the Haffner Serenade six years earlier. The Mozarts knew the family through, among others, father Sigmund Haffner, who had been mayor of Salzburg and had helped the Mozart family on their European tour. In fact, the new symphony also began as a serenade, intended for Sigmund Haffner junior's elevation to the peerage. Although Mozart was up to his ears in work - he was in mid-1782 working on an adaptation of his own opera Die Entführung aus dem Serail, his own marriage and a move - he nevertheless complied with the request that came to him through his father Leopold. The new work was well received, and when Mozart requested the music back, he was so enthusiastic that he chose to rework the serenade into a symphony.

The symphony begins with a grand gesture that Mozart says should be played with fire. It follows the usual sonata form, but contains many inventive moments such as harmonic shifts and fugal passages and brilliant coloring of the clarinet. Although the instrument emerged as early as about 1700, it was not added to the orchestra until the late 18th century. Mozart makes grateful use of it in his later symphonies. The second movement consists of elegant melodies exchanged between the strings and woodwinds. The minuet has the same grandeur to the first movement and gains character from the contrasting dynamics.

The finale is an energetic presto reminiscent of the brilliant overture Le Nozze di Figaro. Mozart advised his father that it should be played "as fast as possible. It is a virtuoso movement full of surprises in dynamics and harmony. It leads to an exciting and good-humored end to a successful symphony that could not only please the Haffners.

Ruben Heimans