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MusicSources Presents "An Evening With The Young Mozart"
MusicSources is pleased to inaugurate 2006 with one of the most
exciting events celebrating the 250th anniversary of Mozart's birth. Our
gala event will take place on Amadeus's birthday, Friday, January 27, 2006,
at St. Alban's Episcopal Church (in the Parish Hall, 1501 Washington
Avenue, Albany), from 7:00 to 10:00 P.M.
Guests will be treated to an extravagant entertainment that will feature
rarely heard music in a spirited, festive atmosphere. Due to the overwhelming
response to last year's fundraiser, "Zimmerman's Coffee House,"
we were inspired to recreate another evening based on historical events.
Although there will no doubt be many concerts around the world with Mozart
themes, our event will be unique in celebrating the brilliant young prodigy
as he, accompanied by his father Leopold and sister Nannerl, astonished
connoisseurs throughout major European capitals.
The following advertisement (from the Ordentliche Wochenliche Franckfurter
Frag-und Anzeigungs-Nachrichten, August 16, 1763) is typical of the
time:
Lovers of Music, and all those who find some pleasure in extraordinary
things, are herewith apprized that at Scharf's Hall on the Liebfrauenberg,
a concert will be held at 7 in the evening, at which two children, namely
a girl of 12 and a boy of 7, will be heard to play with incredible dexterity
concertos, trios and sonatas, and then the boy also the same on the violin.
And if this be unheard of and incredible in such young children and with
such power, since the boy is complete master of the keyboard: so much so
that these two children's skill not only astonished the Electoral Courts
of Saxony, Bavaria, and the Palatinate, but also afforded exceptional entertainment
to His Imperial and Royal Majesty during a 4 month's visit to Vienna, and
were the object of general wonderment: so we hope the more readily to procure
some pleasure to the public of this city; for we know of no-one in a position
to say truthfully that he has ever seen or heard the like from children
of such tender years. Further be it known that this will be the only concert,
since they are immediately afterwards to continue their journey to France
and England. Admission, a small thaler per person.
Our program will feature works associated with these concerts. We will
perform the Symphony, K19a, which was only rediscovered in the 1980s. It
dates from when Mozart, a mere 9 years old, was in London and rubbing shoulders
with Johann Christian Bach, among others. It calls for a full ensemble
of strings and continuo, oboes and horns, and is a fully up to date, diligently
composed work in the fashionable Italian style. It is a stunning piece
worthy of, if not better than, the work of many of his adult contemporaries.
In the main spotlight is the delightful little opera Bastien und
Bastienne, K50, composed when Mozart was eleven. Previously, the
work was thought to have been commissioned by the famous Dr. Anton Mesmer,
to be performed in the garden theater of his residence in Salzburg, but
we now believe this is unlikely. Nevertheless, we have taken the theme
of a sumptuous pleasure garden as the setting of our evening. Our presentation
will be fully staged, with sets influenced by the 18th century ones that
survive in the Mnichovo Hradiste Court Theater, a jewel box theater near
Prague that shares similar dimensions to the intimate one of St. Alban's
Parish Hall.
Our large ensemble will be filled with baroque luminaries, such as Katherine
Kyme,
Lisa Grodin and Paul Avril, to the younger H.I.P
(historically informed performance) generation such as Joanna Blendulf
and Sarah Gillies. The youthful cast for the opera will include
soprano Rita Lilly, tenor Jonathan Smucker, and bass Paul
Murray. Ms. Lilly is well known to our community, while Messieurs Smucker
and Murray are at the beginning of major solo careers. Surprise guests
will also perform (some nice, some a bit naughty!) and all of our attendees
will play a curious musical game invented by Mozart involving a pair of
dice!
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Dwight Been painting part of the set for "Dr. Mesmer's Pleasure
Garden".
MUSICSOURCES presents "Dr. Mesmer's Pleasure Garden: an evening
with the young Mozart", a benefit for the center in celebration of the
composer's 250th birthday, at 7:00 pm Friday, January 27, 2006 at Saint
Alban's Episcopal Church, Albany. Program will include a staged performance
of Mozart's early opera
Bastien und Bastienne and a recently discovered
symphony he composed at age nine. $100 for priority seating ($75 is tax
deductible) or $75 for general seating ($50 is tax deductible).
MusicSources, 1000 The Alameda at Marin, Berkeley. 510 - 528 -1685
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There will be elegant desserts, Cafe Wein (mit schlag!),
and a nohost bar.
Gift baskets containing unique Mozartean treasures will
be for sale.
Winners of our raffle will also be announced.
All of the proceeds will benefit MusicSources, Center
for Historically Informed Performance, as we anticipate more concerts and
programs that in turn enrich our vital early music community.
On behalf of the Music Sources Board of Directors, we
invite you to celebrate our 19th season as well as the birthday of one
of music's greatest geniuses, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Because of limited
seating, (tickets have already gone on sale and are selling out quickly)
we strongly advise making reservations ASAP. For more information call
Music Sources at 510-528-1685 or visit our website: http://www.sfems.org/musicsources.
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