CMLXXVIII. MOZART, Wolfgang Amadeus (1756-1791)
Concerto #1 in G Major for Flute and Orchestra, K. 313 (1778)
1. Allegro maestoso
2. Adagio ma non troppo
3. Rondo: Tempo di Menuetto
Hallfríour Ólafsdóttir, flute
Leo Hussain, cond.
(28:42)
Through the court flutist Johann Wendling, Mozart was introduced to an amateur flutist, physician, medical scholar -- Ferdinand DeJean, who offered Mozart "200 gold pieces" for three concerti (only two were delivered), a "couple of quartets" (four, in fact, were expected; three were delivered).
Speculation has it that Mozart "hated" the flute! Judge from this letter to Dad:
"DeJean is also leaving for Paris tomorrow and, because I have only finished two concertos and three quartets for him, has sent me 96 gulden too little, evidently supposing that this was the half of 200): but he must pay me in full, for that was my agreement with the Wendlings, and I can send him the other pieces later. It is not surprising that I have not been able to finish them, for I have never a single quiet hour here. I can only compose at night, so that I can't get up early as well; besides, one is not always in the mood for working. I could, to be sure, scribble off things the whole day long, but a composition of this kind goes out into the world, and naturally I do not want to have cause to be ashamed of my name on the title-page. Moreover, you know that I become quite powerless whenever I am obliged to write for an instrument which I cannot bear. Hence as a diversion I compose something else, such as duets for clavier and violin, or I work on my mass."
Jane Bowers speculates that the offending sentence is just the one of a catalogue of excuses, written to strict, demanding Father -- who was probably nagging the poor 22-year-old kid to keep the calendar full ...
**
It's really a lovely piece ...
1. Allegro maestoso
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