Many know it, the famous film drama Amadeus from 1984, which ends with the tragic death of the impoverished, ailing Mozart. Tender tones and tragedy seem to belong together in the life and work of the immortal composer. This is evident right from the first piece of the evening's program, Mozart's Maurische Trauermusik. This is a short orchestral piece that Mozart wrote upon the death of a friend, a Freemason, and can be understood as – as the Mozart researcher Schmid puts it – “symphonic manifesto of tragic shock.”
Much less tragic is the following viola concerto by the German-Bohemian composer Antonio Rosetti. As a soloist, we are pleased to experience the young, dynamic viola virtuoso Nils Mönkemeyer on stage, who shows us what the viola is capable of, often leading a shadowy existence as the less popular sister of the violin. With electrifying rhythms and melodious earworms, Rosetti’s viola concerto offers the best opportunity for this. As a contemporary of Mozart, Rosetti was an extremely popular composer and even had one thing over him: he worked as a conductor at the court of a significant, music-loving prince. A position that Mozart long hoped for in vain. By the way: at the Prague funeral service for Mozart, Rosetti’s Requiem was played. And there it is again, the aspect of tragedy that somewhat permeates this concert program.
But slowly, we will not let the evening end so tragically! For Mozart always conveys one thing through his music: There is light at the end of the tunnel. Thus, the last piece on the program with Mozart’s Jupiter Symphony is simply cosmic. What this symphony – by the way, the last one composed by Mozart – can evoke in us can hardly be better described than with the words of conductor Rudolf Paumgärtner: “Like a triumphal song of powerful glory, the symphony rises as a radiant conclusion above all earthly suffering to lofty heights.”

Cast:

Bamberger Symphoniker
Bernard Labadie – Conductor
Nils Mönkemeyer – Viola

Program:

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 – 1791)
Maurerische Trauermusik KV 477

Antonio Rosetti (1750 – 1792)
Concerto for Viola and Orchestra in G Major

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Symphony No. 41 in C Major “Jupiter” KV 551

Entry 7:00 PM
with intermission