There is an interesting anecdote behind this scene, given by Constanz Mozart to Vincent and Mary Novello : in 1829, the couple visited their friend Constanz who was still alive and living in Salzburg. She told them that after they got married (she and Mozart), they went to Salzburg visiting Mozart’s family and friends. One afternoon (in October 1783), they started singing this quarter with friends, all together. Mozart suddenly started crying out loud and left the room. Constanz couldn’t comfort him. He had been overwhelmed by the situation in which Idamante (character of this opera) got himself into : exile, disaster, death. Source : personal diary of Mr. & Mrs. Novello. It seems nothing, but since I learnt about it, I can’t stop imagining how sensitive must have been Mozart. How fascinating, moving, adorable he probably was. I see him singing, laughing and crying after hearing this quartet... It sounds ridiculous maybe and I apologize, but I love Mozart so much. It kills me that I’ll never be able to meet him, listen to him, see his real face or even know where he was buried. People who share the same passion : read his letters, also read Robbins Landon fabulous books about Mozart.
I read the book, and when I reached that exact scene and anecdote, I had to stop and listen to this piece. It is truly so emotional even to this day... and just yet another testament to Mozart's genius and at the same time his ability to portray the human condition so poignantly. Another thing that stood out to me in the book as a whole was as the author pointed out Mozart's belief that even when the most repugnant and undesirable antagonistic forces are being portrayed, there needs to be some beauty present in the music because the divine plan is always ultimately one of beauty and magnificence. You can see an example of that here: As the characters are singing the woeful lines "Più fiera sorte, Pena maggiore" or "No one ever suffered , a harsher fate, or greater punishment", which are the climax of the negative connotation of the scene and tragic&painful... Mozart plays a major, quite magestic and beautiful passage, as if to show that there is a deeper layer, even if unseen, which moves things into the divine and pure, where ultimately all events serve a grand purpose of higher-order and harmony/beauty. Such a sensitive and detailed artist he was! Thank God for Mozart and the fact that we can still enjoy his contributions to art!
No, never! He performed it in Vienna at home and could not end it, went out and cried. Constanze followed him. It is a pitty, that she didn't say WHY@@user-ql3es4zi1f
There is an interesting anecdote behind this scene, given by Constanz Mozart to Vincent and Mary Novello : in 1829, the couple visited their friend Constanz who was still alive and living in Salzburg. She told them that after they got married (she and Mozart), they went to Salzburg visiting Mozart’s family and friends.
One afternoon (in October 1783), they started singing this quarter with friends, all together. Mozart suddenly started crying out loud and left the room. Constanz couldn’t comfort him. He had been overwhelmed by the situation in which Idamante (character of this opera) got himself into : exile, disaster, death.
Source : personal diary of Mr. & Mrs. Novello.
It seems nothing, but since I learnt about it, I can’t stop imagining how sensitive must have been Mozart. How fascinating, moving, adorable he probably was. I see him singing, laughing and crying after hearing this quartet...
It sounds ridiculous maybe and I apologize, but I love Mozart so much. It kills me that I’ll never be able to meet him, listen to him, see his real face or even know where he was buried.
People who share the same passion : read his letters, also read Robbins Landon fabulous books about Mozart.
Same. And I'm reading right now one of the many biographies about him. Wish I could live in the 1700s just to meet him.
My dear friend, I do agree with you. I share the same passion. Mozart has been and will be my hero.
I read the book, and when I reached that exact scene and anecdote, I had to stop and listen to this piece. It is truly so emotional even to this day... and just yet another testament to Mozart's genius and at the same time his ability to portray the human condition so poignantly.
Another thing that stood out to me in the book as a whole was as the author pointed out Mozart's belief that even when the most repugnant and undesirable antagonistic forces are being portrayed, there needs to be some beauty present in the music because the divine plan is always ultimately one of beauty and magnificence. You can see an example of that here: As the characters are singing the woeful lines "Più fiera sorte,
Pena maggiore" or "No one ever suffered
, a harsher fate, or greater punishment", which are the climax of the negative connotation of the scene and tragic&painful... Mozart plays a major, quite magestic and beautiful passage, as if to show that there is a deeper layer, even if unseen, which moves things into the divine and pure, where ultimately all events serve a grand purpose of higher-order and harmony/beauty. Such a sensitive and detailed artist he was! Thank God for Mozart and the fact that we can still enjoy his contributions to art!
Wonderful quartet, geniously invented and so well sang...
Magnificent quartet. This is one of the reasons Mozart is my favorite composer.
Mozart himself considered this quartet as redundant and planned to remove it
No, never! He performed it in Vienna at home and could not end it, went out and cried. Constanze followed him. It is a pitty, that she didn't say WHY@@user-ql3es4zi1f
Wonderfully sung by all of them, despite a too feminine Idamante. I prefer a tenor is this role.