Mary Jane Freeman

Mozart, Beethoven dialogue continued

Notes by Margaret Scialdone. We continue the Mozart-Beethoven dialogue with Beethoven’s 7 Variations on “Bei Männern, welche Liebe Fühlen” (‘A man who can feel love must have a good heart’), the beautiful duet sung by Pamina and Papageno in the first act of “The Magic Flute”.  Mozart’s opera employs fantastical characters and imagery to bring across the powerful message of the power of love over evil. In the duet, Pamina comforts the ridiculous bird-man Papageno, who is lamenting his lack of a soulmate. Beethoven’s variations,  composed 10 years after Mozart’s untimely death, treat Mozart’s theme with great charm and wit, developing a full palate of emotional expression.

The duet is sung here by Kiri Te Kanawa and Thomas Allen.

Beethoven’s variations are performed here by Miklós Perényi and András Schiff.

Mozart – Beethoven a musical dialogue over time.

Notes by Margaret Scialdone. Mozart’s opera Don Giovanni, the story of a dissolute lecher who is finally dragged to Hell, provided a rich source of material for Beethoven. In the opening scene, Don Giovanni kills the Commendatore, who has rushed to avenge the rape of his daughter, Donna Anna. The dying Commendatore, Don Giovanni, and his servant Leporello sing a trio which closes with the famous theme from Beethoven’s “Moonlight” sonata at the moment of the Commendatore’s death.

Below we have three demonstrations: first, a five-minute video by Daniel Barenboim in which he demonstrates the connection; second, the relevant portion of the opera (from a 1954 performance conducted by Wilhelm Furtwängler); and third,  the first movement of the Moonlight Sonata (Opus 14 number 2) played by Claudio Arrau.

Mozart’s birthday; Beethoven’s regard for him.

Notes by Margaret Scialdone. ~ As January 27th is the 265th birthday of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart,  we’ll step away from the sonatas for a few days and allow Beethoven to pay homage to his great predecessor. The teenaged Beethoven first went to Vienna in 1787, and it’s believed that he met with Mozart who agreed to take him on as a pupil. However, Beethoven immediately received news that his mother was critically ill, so he returned to Bonn after five days. When he finally came back to Vienna in 1792, Mozart had already died, at the age of 35. Beethoven then took up lessons from Haydn, which were unsatisfactory because Haydn was busy with concert tours, so he ended up studying counterpoint with Albrechtsburger and composition with Saliieri.

Beethoven had obviously studied every note Mozart had ever written, and his sketchbooks and compositions are full of Mozartean references. However, we’ll concentrate right now on one of Beethoven’s favorite genres – variations – composed on themes from Mozart’s operas.
In “The Marriage of Figaro”, the Figaro, who’s about to get married, learns that the count whom he serves intends to exercise the “Lord’s right” – to sleep with the bride on her wedding night. Furious, he announces in the aria “Se vuol ballare” his determination to thwart the Count’s plan.

Here you will find Mozart’s aria is sung by Erwin Schrott, and Beethoven’s variations, WoO 40, are performed by Jiyoung Park and Hue-am Park.