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On January 27th, 2006, the world will mark the 250th anniversary of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's birth. The celebration has already begun at Performance Today with a weekly series of commentaries, stories and musical tributes to the classical composer.
On the 250th anniversary of Mozart's birth, NPR's Fred Child wraps up a week of musical celebrations in Salzburg, Austria. The Mozarteum Orchestra, the Camerata Salzburg and the Vienna Symphony perform works from the composer.
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Learn more about NPR and the Salzburg Seminar at the Leopoldskron Palace in Salzburg, Austria.
Sir Roger Norrington joins NPR's Fred Child in Salzburg for Mozart's birthday celebration. He conducts a selection of Mozart masterpieces, including the slow movement of Mozart's Symphony No. 40 in G Minor and the famous duet "Bei Maennern" from the opera The Magic Flute.
()Pianist Mitsuko Uchida joins the Hagen Quartet to play the composer's great G minor Piano Quartet, K. 478.
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Pianist Mitsuko Uchida joins NPR's Fred Child in Salzburg to discuss the unusual slow movement of Mozart's Piano Sonata No. 18 in F Major, K. 533.
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NPR's Fred Child hosts Performance Today from Salzburg, Austria, to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the birth of Mozart. The celebration includes performances from the Juilliard Quartet and Shai Wosner.
()Despite being one of the most successful composers of all time, Mozart could rarely find a job. We hear some of the pieces he composed while attempting to receive commissions or job offers, including the Dominicus Mass, K. 66, the Piano Sonata in B-flat, K. 281 and his famous G minor Symphony, No. 40.
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Mozart's relationship with his father was one of love and mutual respect, but not subservience. Scholars Neal Zaslaw and Jane Glover explore the relationship. Music includes a sonata for piano and violin, intrigue from The Marriage of Figaro and a piano concerto.
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As a part of our continuing series of Mozart commentaries, Jane Glover, conductor and author of Mozart's Women, introduces us to the composer's mother, Maria Anne; his sister, Nannerl; and wife, Constanze, pictured at left. All three had an influence on his music.
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We hear the overture to La Clemenza di Tito, by the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra, Louis Langre conducting; a letter by Mozart with news of the successful premiere of Don Giovanni; from that opera, Cecelia Bartoli and Bryn Terfel sing "La ci darem la mano;" and the overture to The Marriage of Figaro, with Charles Mackerras and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra.
()Elly Ameling sings the Mozart song "Little Frederick's Birthday," with Dalton Baldwin at piano. And we hear the West German Radio Symphony play Mozart's Symphony No. 38... the "Prague" Symphony.
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Much fuss has been made over how much Mozart hated having to write mostly church music during his teenage years as an organist in Salzburg. And much of the music is ordinary. But these selections helped earn him a memorial at Mozartplatz.
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Meet the rascal beneath the halo. Mozart could write sublime music and still behave like a little boy. It's the Mischievous Mozart, in all of his wisecracking manifestations. From bowling to musical dice, from party games to slapstick opera, a look at Mozart in his element.
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The two were contemporaries, friends, colleagues, and mutual admirers. Can you tell if a piece is by Mozart or Haydn? Fred Child tests your Mozart meter by administering a good-natured quiz. And commentator Rob Kapilow has his own ideas of what makes Haydn different from Mozart.
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The music Mozart wrote for his horn-playing friend Joseph Leutgeb is still some of the finest music ever written for horn. We feature some of the highlights: the lyrical Horn Quintet and the Horn Concerto No. 4 from a performance by the Romanian Radio Chamber Orchestra.
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As part of a continuing Mozart series, Colonial music experts David Hildebrand and Kate Keller examine the similarities and differences between the music of revolutionary America and Mozart's European experience.
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Renowned Mozart scholar Neal Zaslaw explores the composer's early years. And we hear performances of three Mozart symphonies: Symphony No. 11, Symphony No. 35 and the closing movement from the Symphony, K. 96.
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