W. A. Mozart. Sinfonia Concertante in E flat major for Violin and Viola, K.364

Performed by the Bemidji Symphony Orchestra (BSO) led by Dr. Beverly Everett at its Lincoln Portrait concert, held at Bemidji High School Auditorium on March 31, 2019 with guest artists Sadie Hamrin (violin) and Sarah Hamrin (viola).
PROGRAM NOTES
Throughout his childhood and teenage years Mozart spent an extensive amount of time traveling around Europe as a child prodigy, playing at various courts with his father and sister. In 1773 he was hired as a court musician in Salzburg, and although he was quite successful there, he wanted more. So, he began another period of travel in search of employment and in 1778 his search brought him to Paris, where he was undoubtedly exposed to various sinfonia concertantes, which were all the rage because they combined the most attractive features of the symphony with the tunefulness and technical virtuosity of the concerto. But he was unable to find a job, partly because he was now an arrogant and annoying “20 something” and no longer a “cute” and “cuddly” little genius.
Mozart returned to “Salzburg slavery,” as he rather injudiciously called his local employment, and reluctantly resumed his work as composer, orchestra musician, and organist in Archbishop Colloredo’s provincial musical establishment in Salzburg. Still inspired by the sinfonia concertantes he heard Paris he began to write two of his own. The first one he unfortunately abandoned; however, the second is the masterpiece that you will hear this afternoon. Although there is no evidence to support this, it is a charming thought that he might have composed the Sinfonia Concertante for a father-son musical outing: Papa on violin, Wolfgang on viola.
The first movement, Allegro maestoso, begins with a masterful introduction that incorporates many compositional techniques of Mozart’s time, including the Mannheim Walze, or Mannheim roller, in which the orchestra builds with a dramatic crescendo from piano to fortissimo. Once the introduction comes to a climax the crescendo dramatically reverses and the soloists emerge. Throughout the movement they continue to toss the principal thematic material back and forth; this culminates in a dramatic cadenza.
The second movement, Andante, is one of Mozart’s early examples of a truly melancholy C-minor movement. The seriousness of this music is reinforced by the dark, rich sonority in the solo viola and the division of the lower strings into several parts. The finale is a rondo whose ingratiating theme is reminiscent of the rising trill motive of the first movement. The two recapitulations of the rondo theme are separated by extended episodes. After a cadenza-like accompanied passage that takes the soloists into the highest reaches of their instruments, the piece concludes with a series of bright, cadential harmonies.
(Program notes are from the Bemidji Symphony Orchestra’s 2018-19 concert program, p. 31 and were written by Dr. Patrick Riley.)
View Lakeland Public Television's coverage of this concert at • In Focus: Bemidji Symp...
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
This concert was made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Region 2 Arts Council, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
This service was funded, in part, by a grant from the Region 2 Arts Council funded by an appropriation from the Minnesota State Legislature with money from the State’s General Fund.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *