The Symphonies Vol. IV Salzburg 1773 - 1775

Abstract

Perhaps the most important turning point in Mozart's life came at the age of twenty-five, when he already had to his credit a corpus of music that many a lesser talent would gladly have accepted as the fruits of a lifetime. He decided to break with his father and the Archbishop of Salzburg, and to remain in Vienna as a free-lance teacher, performer and composer - a decision which had far-reaching implications for his music and, hence, for the evolution of the Viennese classical style as a whole. We have already offered ample documentation, in the programme notes for volumes 2-5 of this series, of Mozart's disaffection to wardsSalzburg. The Archbishop was stingy and insufficiently appreciative. Leopold Mozart was continually looking over his son's shoulder and passing judgment. Musical life was circumscribed and tastes conservative in Salzburg, and Mozart's opportunities to show what he could do in his favourite genres -piano concerto and opera - were extremely limited. He joyously described Vienna to his father as 'keyboard land' (which it was); he might with equal justification have called it 'or-chestra land'. Charles Bumey was only one of many visitors to Vienna who commented upon the excellence o£ the orchestral ptayvr\£ there. D\jum%hi?, 1772 visit he attended performances at the two principal theatres and gave this expert testimony: 'The orchestra [at the German theatre] has a numerous band, and the pieces which were played for the overture and act tunes, were very well performed, and had an admirable effect; they were composed by Haydn, Hof-man[n], and Vanhall. The orchestra here [at the French theatre] was fully as striking as that of the other theatre, and the pieces played were admirable. They seemed so full of invention, that it seemed to be music of some other world, insomuch, that hardly a passage in this was to be traced; and yet all was natural, and equally free from the stiffness of labour, and the pedantry of hard study. Whose music it was I could not learn; but both the composition and perfor-mance, gave me exquisite pleasure.' Even if testimony such as Bumey7s had not come down to us, we would have been able to guess the calibre of the Viennese players by the ever-increasing difficulty of Mozart's orchestral writing in his piano concertos and operas. These difficulties were the object of complaint in other parts of Europe, and in Italy well into the 19th century his operas were considered impossible to perform. Vienna did not have a single large orchestra lor international reputation, comparable to, for example the Nlannheim orchestra, the opera I orchestras of Milan and Turin, or the orchestra of I the Concert des amateurs in Paris. Unlike in Pans and London, there was no flourishing nusic-publishing industry in Vienna. The Impe-I naJ Court Orchestra was in a period of severe de-Ichne. But Vienna was the economic, political and cultural centre of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, I which encompassed not just Austria and Hun-Igary, but substantial portions of present-day I Czechoslovakia, northern Italy, Yugoslavia and I Rumania. Many wealthy noble families from I those regions maintained homes in Vienna. A | surprising number of them were musically liter-I ate and demanded a steady flow of music of the I highest quality. It was thus no coincidence that, along with dozens of lesser composers, Gluck, Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven - none of whom were natives of Vienna - preferred that city to all ' others.