![Edvard Grieg - String Quartet No. 1, op. 27 [With score] @DamonJHK](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/OM9hdCpdcqc/maxresdefault.jpg)
Uploaded January 2017 | Updated September 2026, 2 hours ago
Composer: Edvard Hagerup Grieg (15 June 1843 -- 4 September 1907)
Performers: Copenhagen String Quartet [Tutter Givskov (violin), Mogens Lydolph (violin), Mogens Bruun (viola), Asger Lund Christiansen (violoncello)]
String Quartet No. 1 in g minor, Op. 27, written in 1877-1878
00:00 - I. Un poco Andante - Allegro molto ed agitato
11:54 - II. Romanze
18:05 - III. Intermezzo
24:29 - IV. Finale. Lento - Presto al Saltarello
Grieg was, at root, a miniaturist. He did not often work in the large scale of the sonata form; his entire completed literature in this form consists of a symphony that he suppressed, one concerto, one cello sonata, three violin sonatas, and this quartet. (Later, he wrote two movements toward another one.) It was composed in 1877-1878. It is an exceedingly attractive and untroubled work, with a melodic spirit that recalls his best songs or piano works. One song-like figure in particular is used throughout. Grieg does treat his material in sonata fashion, but not rigorously. There is a feeling of Norwegian peasant dances in the scherzo, while the finale trots merrily with a saltarello rhythm. It is, in short, a lovable work, heartwarming in the way that Grieg's music so often is.
The first performance of the quartet took place in Cologne in October 1878, by a quartet led by the work's dedicatee, violinist Robert Heckmann.
[allmusic.com]
Original Audio: youtu.be/pZZkxLY9uqc
Composer: Edvard Hagerup Grieg (15 June 1843 -- 4 September 1907)
Performers: Copenhagen String Quartet [Tutter Givskov (violin), Mogens Lydolph (violin), Mogens Bruun (viola), Asger Lund Christiansen (violoncello)]
String Quartet No. 1 in g minor, Op. 27, written in 1877-1878
00:00 - I. Un poco Andante - Allegro molto ed agitato
11:54 - II. Romanze
18:05 - III. Intermezzo
24:29 - IV. Finale. Lento - Presto al Saltarello
Grieg was, at root, a miniaturist. He did not often work in the large scale of the sonata form; his entire completed literature in this form consists of a symphony that he suppressed, one concerto, one cello sonata, three violin sonatas, and this quartet. (Later, he wrote two movements toward another one.) It was composed in 1877-1878. It is an exceedingly attractive and untroubled work, with a melodic spirit that recalls his best songs or piano works. One song-like figure in particular is used throughout. Grieg does treat his material in sonata fashion, but not rigorously. There is a feeling of Norwegian peasant dances in the scherzo, while the finale trots merrily with a saltarello rhythm. It is, in short, a lovable work, heartwarming in the way that Grieg's music so often is.
The first performance of the quartet took place in Cologne in October 1878, by a quartet led by the work's dedicatee, violinist Robert Heckmann.
[allmusic.com]
Original Audio: youtu.be/pZZkxLY9uqc
![Edvard Grieg - String Quartet No. 1, op. 27 [With score]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/OM9hdCpdcqc/mqdefault.jpg "Edvard Grieg - String Quartet No. 1, op. 27 [With score]
Composer: Edvard Hagerup Grieg (15 June 1843 4 September 1907)
Performers: Copenhagen String Quartet [Tutter Givskov (violin), Mogens Lydolph (violin), Mogens Bruun (viola), Asger Lund Christiansen (violoncello)]
String Quartet No. 1 in g minor, Op. 27, written in 1877-1878
00:00 - I. Un poco Andante - Allegro molto ed agitato
11:54 - II. Romanze
18:05 - III. Intermezzo
24:29 - IV. Finale. Lento - Presto al Saltarello
Grieg was, at root, a miniaturist. He did not often work in the large scale of the sonata form; his entire completed literature in this form consists of a symphony that he suppressed, one concerto, one cello sonata, three violin sonatas, and this quartet. (Later, he wrote two movements toward another one.) It was composed in 1877-1878. It is an exceedingly attractive and untroubled work, with a melodic spirit that recalls his best songs or piano works. One song-like figure in particular is used throughout. Grieg does treat his material in sonata fashion, but not rigorously. There is a feeling of Norwegian peasant dances in the scherzo, while the finale trots merrily with a saltarello rhythm. It is, in short, a lovable work, heartwarming in the way that Griegs music so often is.
The first performance of the quartet took place in Cologne in October 1878, by a quartet led by the works dedicatee, violinist Robert Heckmann.
[allmusic.com]
Original Audio: https://youtu.be/pZZkxLY9uqc")
![Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Le nozze di Figaro, K. 492 {Overture, Act I} [With score]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/ORpaNV9zbr0/mqdefault.jpg "Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Le nozze di Figaro, K. 492 {Overture, Act I} [With score]
Composer: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791)
Libretto: Lorenzo da Ponte
Conductor: René Jacobs
Performers: Simon Keenlyside (Il Conte), Véronique Gens (La Contessa) Patrizia Ciofi (Susanna), Lorenzo Regazzo (Figaro), Angelika Kirchschlager (Cherubino), Marie McLaughlin (Marcellina), Kobie van Rensburg (Basilio & Don Curzio), Antonio Abete (Bartolo & Antonio), Nuria Rial (Barbarina), Elisabeth Rapp & Yeree Suh (Due Ragazze)
Choir: Collegium Vocale Gent
Orchestra: Concerto Köln
Le nozze di Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro), K. 492, opera buffa in 4 acts, written in 1786 {Act 1}
00:00 – xxx. Ouverture
Act I
04:14 – I. Duettino: Cinque... dieci... venti...
07:43 – II. Duettino: Se a caso madama
13:00 – III. Cavatina: Se vuol ballare
16:39 – IV. Aria: La vendetta, oh, la vendetta
20:29 – V. Duettino: Via, resti servita
24:43 – VI. Aria: Non so più cosa son
31:19 – VII. Terzetto: Cosa sento! tosto andate
36:28 – VIII. Coro: Giovani liete
41:21 – IX. Aria: Non più andrai
Lorenzo da Ponte wrote the libretto for Mozarts Figaro after falling out with Antonio Salieri, who, as imperial court composer, had obtained the position of court poet for da Ponte. At the time of the operas composition and first performances, there was a climate of antagonism among factions of Italian musicians and poets living in Vienna, among whom was counted Salieri. Although the efforts of the anti-Mozart Italian clique did not succeed in having Mozarts Figaro banned from the stage, the opera did receive fewer than ten performances in Vienna immediately after its première at the Burgtheater on May 1, 1786. Figaro would have tremendous success in Prague, however, before spreading to other parts of Europe and becoming a classic of the opera buffa repertory. So began the fortuitous Mozart/da Ponte relationship, from which would come two further masterworks, Don Giovanni (1787) and Così fan tutte (1789-1790).
Mozart admired Pierre Auguste Caron de Beaumarchais politically radical play Le mariage de Figaro (1781), the second play in what would become a trilogy based on the autobiographical character Figaro. Beaumarchais Le barbier de Séville had been performed in 1775 and the third play of the trilogy, La mère coupable, would be premièred in 1793. In his Figaro plays, Beaumarchais, who himself was a participant in the Revolution, working towards anti-aristocratic revolutionary ideas, sharply spoofs pre-Revolution French society.
Mozarts music for Figaro consists of conventional dry and accompanied recitative, aria, and ensemble pieces. The overture, despite having no development section, is essentially in sonata form. Mozart musically conveys the range of Figaros perturbation in his Act One cavatina, Se vuol ballare, by whimsically changing the character of his music to correspond with Figaros machinations. Mozart also imbues Figaros rondo-form aria, Non più andrai, farfallone amoroso, with colorful musical depictions of Cherubinos forthcoming military service through dotted rhythms and trumpet arpeggio fanfares. The Countess cavatina, Porgi amor, conveys the characters elevated social status through its graceful melodic language. The duet (Aprite, presto, aprite) between Susanna and Cherubino in Act Two bristles expectantly with its moto perpetuo string writing and nervous, patter vocal declamation. In the Counts and Susannas Act Three duet (Crudel! Perchè finora), the minor mode conveys the Counts initial grief and a shift to major mode, after Susanna agrees to come to the garden, confirms a sense of momentary resolution. Later, in the Counts accompanied recitative (Hai già vinta la causa!), the orchestra adds an extra emphasis to his verbal expression of anger and agitation through impetuous dotted rhythms and string tremolos. Through furiously rapid-scale passages and trills, the orchestra maintains this angry intensity in the Counts vengeance aria (Vedrò mentrio sospiro). Barbainas Act Four cavatina, Lho perduta...me meschina! introduces a minor mode melody of classic Mozartean pathos. The finale of Act Four brings the principal characters to beg the Counts forgiveness and the music swells from a pious hymn-like ensemble to a triumphant fanfare-laden exultation.
[allmusic.com]")
![Edvard Grieg - Fire Romancer {Four Romances}, op. 10 [With score]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/OzzUI_z3xAc/mqdefault.jpg "Edvard Grieg - Fire Romancer {Four Romances}, op. 10 [With score]
-Composer: Edvard Hagerup Grieg (15 June 1843 – 4 September 1907)
-Performers: Monica Groop (voice), Roger Vignoles (Piano)
Fire Romancer {Four Romances} for Voice and Piano, op. 10, written in 1864-66
00:03 - I. Taksigelse {Gratitude}
03:49 - II. Skovsang {Woodland song} (06:26 for 4th strophe)
07:39 - III. Blomsterne tale {The flowers message}
09:07 - IV. Sang på fjeldet {Song on the mountain}")
![P. I. Tchaikovsky - The Nutcracker, Acte I. Tableau I. N° 2 Marche [With score]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/PCkn1E4c68c/mqdefault.jpg "P. I. Tchaikovsky - The Nutcracker, Acte I. Tableau I. N° 2 Marche [With score]
Composer: Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (7 May 1840 - 6 November 1893)
Orchestra: Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra
Conductor: Valery Gergiev
+This is a test video. In 20xx, My friend and I will work together on the famous ballet by Tchaikovsky: The nutcracker. And the result will be uploaded on my friends channel:
https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCEH6BN8A5xxnMgg0uPQlU1A")
![Claude Debussy - Piano Trio in G Major [With score]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/PN47nn799pE/mqdefault.jpg "Claude Debussy - Piano Trio in G Major [With score]
-Composer: Claude-Achille Debussy (22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918)
-Performers: Trio Stradivari [Jolanda Violante (piano), Federico Guglielmo (violin), Luigi Puxeddu (cello)]
Piano Trio in G Major, L. 3, written in 1880
00:00 - I. Andantino con moto allegro
09:12 - II. Scherzo - Intermezzo. Moderato con allegro
12:45 - III. Andante espressivo
16:44 - IV. Finale. Appassionato
The reconstruction of Claude Debussys Piano Trio in G major, once thought to be among those early works either destroyed by the composer or lost during the ensuing hundred years, surely must count among the musicological triumphs of the 1980s. Though a certain amount of recomposition was necessary, most of the work was pieced together from a variety of authentic sources, including several partial manuscripts and a copy of the original cello part. (The reconstruction involved a number of parties, most notably the musicologist Ellwood Derr.)
Debussy composed the work during the summer of 1880 while employed by Madame von Meck (the legendary sponsor of Tchaikovsky). The eighteen-year-old composers unique musical voice was far from developed at this stage of his career, and throughout the work the influence of Franck and Schumann two of young Debussys favorite composers overshadows the few hints of Debussys future stature.
The form of the opening movement is a far cry from the venerable sonata-allegro form as found in many concert works of the nineteenth century. The initial gesture (which is ingeniously presented with the wrong metric alignment during the pianos introductory phrase, only to be shifted back by one beat to its proper location upon the violinists entrance four bars later) is followed by more active music marked Allegro appassionato. As the movement nears its midpoint, Debussy allows the cellist to introduce a gentle, triplet-dominated melody which is soon taken up by the violinist as well. The pianissimo reprise of the opening material (one hesitates to call it a recapitulation) is dislodged by the Allegro appassionato (now in the home key of G major) after only twenty-two bars. Shortly before the close of the movement, which is executed with the same kind of pianissimo dissolution typical of Debussys mature style, the opening material is allowed to once again take its rightful place in G major.
Perhaps the most immediately charming music in the Trio is to be found in the relatively brief Scherzo. A great deal of Schumanns witticism has found its way into the mix, although the ornamented, concealed parallelisms of the Un poco piu lento are all Debussy. If the gentle melody of the ensuing Andante espressivo, and the manner in which it is taken up directly by the violin after the cellists initial presentation, seems somewhat contrived, the rolling arpeggiations of the movements middle section cannot but remind one of the composers earlier style of piano writing (Clair de lune and the like).
The Finale provides a strong end to the work, despite an occasionally distracting lack of harmonic coherence (it should be pointed out that the weakest sections of the movement are Debussys own, while the reconstruction is performed with consummate skill). The chromatic relations of the tonal areas contained within the movement (from the opening G minor through A-flat major, E major and its parallel minor) and the harmonically agitated way in which Debussy moves from one tonal (and thematic) area to the next, developing his well-drawn motifs along the way, are among the characteristics that would have drawn the most criticism during the early stages of the composers career. Debussys decision to weaken the final (already very brief) cadence by landing on an altered tonic chord (V of IV) and then presenting a series of non-cadential chords over the tonic pedal, shows that the young composer was already beginning to explore ways of circumventing traditional harmonic formulae.
description: [allmusic.com]")
![Igor Stravinsky - Capriccio for Piano and Orchestra [With score]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/PXWlkshdCBs/mqdefault.jpg "Igor Stravinsky - Capriccio for Piano and Orchestra [With score]
Composer: Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky (17 June 1882 6 April 1971)
Piano: Carlos Roque Alsina
Orchestra: Philharmonique de France
Conductor: Ernest Bour
Capriccio for piano and orchestra, written in 1929
00:00 - I. Presto
06:19 - II. Andante rapsodico
11:39 - III. Allegro capriccioso ma tempo giusto
After he had premiered his Concerto for Piano and Wind Instruments in 1924, Stravinsky had played that work about 40 times in Europe and America. By late 1928, he decided that he needed a new solo vehicle for his piano playing and Stravinsky began composing his Capriccio for piano and orchestra after Christmas of that year. The work was completed in September, 1929, and premiered in Paris with Ernest Ansermet conducting the Paris Symphony Orchestra and the composer at the piano.
The Capriccio was composed after Stravinsky had completed his Tchaikovsky ballet Le Baiser de la fée, a work whose music is based on the songs and piano piece of Tchaikovsky, and the same spirit of melodic refinement and rhythmic gracefulness permeates the three movements of the capriccio. Having written the Allegro capriccioso ma tempo giusto, the whole work took its title from that movement. Despite being scored for three each of flutes, oboes, and clarinet, two bassoons, four horns, two trumpets, three trombones, tuba, and timpani plus ripieno and concertino strings without second violins, the capriccio is a much lighter and more self-consciously charming work than the weighty Piano Concerto. It is also a more stylish work; in his writings about the capriccio, Stravinsky mentions Weber and Mendelssohn, the two Beau Brummels of music and his writing for the piano has some of their effervescent spirit as well.
The opening movement of the Capriccio starts with a slow-sounding introduction which is integrated the Presto body of the movement. This introduction returns at the close of the movement to give the impression of a rounded ABA form. The central movement is marked Andante rapsodico, but the expressive indication has more to do with the apparent emotionality of the themes than the structure of the music which is in a clear ABA form. The Andante capriccioso finale is the lightest and fastest of the three movements and, again, the expressive marking has more to do with the cheerful and witty quality of the themes than with the form of the music which is in rondo form.
The Capriccio is a huge step forward in Stravinskys writing for the piano. In place of the heavy rhythms and thick textures of the Piano Concerto, he wrote for the piano in a manner much more in line with his manner of composing for winds and brass that is, more gracefully and elegantly.
[allmusic.com]
Original Audio: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7XqkCIL6yE")
![Olivier Messiaen - Catalogue doiseaux (Book 6) [With score]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/PZSoKKN6fCE/mqdefault.jpg "Olivier Messiaen - Catalogue doiseaux (Book 6) [With score]
Composer: Olivier Messiaen (10 December 1908 27 April 1992)
Pianist: Yvonne Loriod (Messiaens wife)
Olivier Messiaen - Catalogue doiseaux, written between 1956-1958, Book 6 (Sixième livre)
X. Le Merle de roche (Common rock thrush)
Le merle de roche (the rock thrush), another nocturnal setting, comprises the sixth book; Messiaen literally renders the elusive bird with silences, disguising the birds motive.")
![Anatoly Lyadov - Barcarolle for Piano op. 44 [With score]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/PdixlxCfgH4/mqdefault.jpg "Anatoly Lyadov - Barcarolle for Piano op. 44 [With score]
-Composer: Anatoly Konstantinovich Lyadov or Liadov (May 12 1855 – August 28 1914)
-Performer: Tatiana Nikolayeva
Barcarolle in F# Major, op. 44, written in 1898")
![Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - String Quartet No. 18, K. 464 [With score]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/QM4ypK3SZHw/mqdefault.jpg "Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - String Quartet No. 18, K. 464 [With score]
-Composer: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791)
-Performers: Quatuor Mosaïques
String Quartet No. 18 in A Major, K. 464, written in 1785 [Haydn Quartet V]
00:06 – I. Allegro
10:08 – II. Menuetto
15:53 – III. Andante
28:16 – IV. Allegro non troppo
The penultimate of a group of six quartets composed between 1782 and 1785, the A major String Quartet (for two violins, viola and cello) was entered in Mozarts thematic catalog on January 10, 1785, just four days before the final work, the Quartet in C, K. 465. In a letter to his daughter Nannerl dated February 16th, Leopold, the composers father, remarks on the very fine quarters Mozart now occupies, continuing with an account of the success of his sons latest series of subscription concerts. On Saturday evening, continues Leopold, Herr Josef Haydn...came to see us and the new quartets were performed, or rather the three new ones which Wolfgang has added to the other three which we have already. The new ones are somewhat easier, but at the same time excellent compositions. Haydn said to me Before God and as an honest man I tell you that your son is the greatest composer known to me either in person or by name. He has taste and, what is more, the most profound knowledge of composition.
Behind this famous anecdote lies a friendship founded on mutual respect and admiration, on Mozarts part engendered to no small degree by recognition of the unique role played by his older colleague in the development of the string quartet. Haydns own set of six String Quartets, Op. 33 is widely recognized as inspiring Mozarts interest in the medium. The two had first met shortly after Mozart settled in Vienna in 1781, the same year Op. 33 first appeared in print. Mozart doubtless had early practical experience of playing the older mans influential works with their composer the two composers are known to have played quartets together. It is, therefore, not surprising that when Mozart came to have his six quartets published in Vienna by Artaria later in 1785 they bore a famous dedication entrusting them to the protection of his dear friend Haydn.
The dedication also makes reference to the long and laborious endeavor the quartets had cost Mozart, a highly significant admission from one of the most fluently equipped of all composers. Despite Leopolds suggestion that the last three quartets (K. 458, K. 464, and K. 465) are somewhat easier, the signs are that K. 464 caused Mozart more trouble than any of the other quartets. The autograph manuscript shows that the construction of the Andantes set of variations underwent changes, and there are also uncharacteristic alterations in the Minuet. A fragmentary Rondo (K. Anh. 72) is probably a discarded initial attempt at the final movement. There is, needless to say, scant evidence of these problems in the finished result, Beethovens favorite among the Haydn set. The opening Allegro is a sonata-form movement of both grace and power, while the variations that form the Andante are richly varied. Both the Minuet and final Allegro non troppo are notable for their economy of thematic material, a trait characteristic of both Haydn and Beethoven.
[allmusic.om]")
![Olivier Messiaen - Catalogue doiseaux (Book 5) [With score]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/QRWyZMMDgPk/mqdefault.jpg "Olivier Messiaen - Catalogue doiseaux (Book 5) [With score]
Composer: Olivier Messiaen (10 December 1908 27 April 1992)
Pianist: Yvonne Loriod (Messiaens wife)
Olivier Messiaen - Catalogue doiseaux, written between 1956-1958, Book 5 (Cinquième livre)
00:15 - VIII. LAlouette calandrelle (Greater short-toed lark)
05:58 - IX. La Bouscarle de Cetti (Cettis warbler)
The shortest movement, Lalouette calandrelle (the short-toed lark) follows, recalling Le loriot with its simple evocation of the songs of larks. La bouscarle (Cettis warbler) closes the fifth book with an evocation of a river as well as the bird.")
![R. Schumann, J. Brahms, A. Dietrich - F-A-E Sonata [With score]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/QoyziXiaqDo/mqdefault.jpg "R. Schumann, J. Brahms, A. Dietrich - F-A-E Sonata [With score]
-Composers:
Albert Dietrich (28 August 1829 – 20 November 1908)
Robert Schumann (8 June 1810 – 29 July 1856)
Johannes Brahms (7 May 1833 – 3 April 1897)
-Performers: Isabelle Faust (Violin), Alexander Melnikov (Piano) (Played on period instruments)
F-A-E Sonata for Violin and Piano, written in 1853
00:00 - I. Allegro (Albert Dietrich)
11:55 - II. Intermezzo. Bewegt, doch nicht zu schnell (Robert Schumann)
14:20 - III. Scherzo. Allegro (Johannes Brahms)
19:04 - IV. Finale. Markiertes, ziemlich lebhaftes Tempo (Robert Schumann)
The sonata was Schumanns idea as a gift and tribute to violinist Joseph Joachim, whom the three composers had recently befriended. Joachim had adopted the Romantic German phrase Frei aber einsam (free but lonely) as his personal motto. The compositions movements are all based on the musical notes F-A-E, the mottos initials, as a musical cryptogram.
Schumann assigned each movement to one of the composers. Dietrich wrote the substantial first movement in sonata form. Schumann followed with a short Intermezzo as the second movement. The Scherzo was by Brahms, who had already proven himself a master of this form in his E flat minor Scherzo for piano and the scherzi in his first two piano sonatas. Schumann provided the finale.
Schumann penned the following dedication on the original score: F.A.E.: In Erwartung der Ankunft des verehrten und geliebten Freundes JOSEPH JOACHIM schrieben diese Sonate R.S., J.B., A.D. (F.A.E.: In expectation of the arrival of their revered and beloved friend, Joseph Joachim, this sonata was written by R.S., J.B., A.D.).
The composers presented the score to Joachim on 28 October at a soirée in the Schumann household, which Bettina von Arnim and her daughter Gisela also attended. The composers challenged Joachim to determine who composed each movement. Joachim played the work that evening, with Clara Schumann at the piano. Joachim identified each movements author with ease.
The complete work was not published during the composers lifetimes. Schumann incorporated his two movements into his Violin Sonata No. 3. Joachim retained the original manuscript, from which he allowed only Brahmss Scherzo to be published in 1906, nearly ten years after Brahmss death. Whether Dietrich made any further use of his sonata-allegro is not known. The complete sonata was first published in 1935.
[source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F-A-E_Sonata]")
![Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Le nozze di Figaro, K. 492 {Act IV} [With score]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/R0MySvXpuHA/mqdefault.jpg "Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Le nozze di Figaro, K. 492 {Act IV} [With score]
Composer: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791)
Libretto: Lorenzo da Ponte
Conductor: René Jacobs
Performers: Simon Keenlyside (Il Conte), Véronique Gens (La Contessa) Patrizia Ciofi (Susanna), Lorenzo Regazzo (Figaro), Angelika Kirchschlager (Cherubino), Marie McLaughlin (Marcellina), Kobie van Rensburg (Basilio & Don Curzio), Antonio Abete (Bartolo & Antonio), Nuria Rial (Barbarina), Elisabeth Rapp & Yeree Suh (Due Ragazze)
Choir: Collegium Vocale Gent
Orchestra: Concerto Köln
Le nozze di Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro), K. 492, opera buffa in 4 acts, written in 1786 {Act 4}
Act IV
00:03 – XXIII. Cavatina: Lho perduta... me meschina!
04:29 – XXIV. Aria: “Il capro e la capretta”
10:15 – XXV. Aria: “In queglanni in cui val poco”
14:02 – XXVI. Recitativo ed Aria: Tutto è disposto
15:34 – Aprite un po quegli occhi
19:25 – XXVII. Recitativo ed Aria: “Giunse alfin il momento”
20:42 – Deh vieni, non tardar
24:27 – XXVIII. Finale: Pian pianin, le andrò
27:26 – Partito è alfin laudace
30:09 – Tutto è tranquillo e placido
30:42 – Ehi, Figaro tacete!
33:45 – Pace, pace, mio dolce tesoro
35:27 – Gente, gente
37:01 – Contessa, perdono
39:22 – Questo giorno di tormenti
Lorenzo da Ponte wrote the libretto for Mozarts Figaro after falling out with Antonio Salieri, who, as imperial court composer, had obtained the position of court poet for da Ponte. At the time of the operas composition and first performances, there was a climate of antagonism among factions of Italian musicians and poets living in Vienna, among whom was counted Salieri. Although the efforts of the anti-Mozart Italian clique did not succeed in having Mozarts Figaro banned from the stage, the opera did receive fewer than ten performances in Vienna immediately after its première at the Burgtheater on May 1, 1786. Figaro would have tremendous success in Prague, however, before spreading to other parts of Europe and becoming a classic of the opera buffa repertory. So began the fortuitous Mozart/da Ponte relationship, from which would come two further masterworks, Don Giovanni (1787) and Così fan tutte (1789-1790).
Mozart admired Pierre Auguste Caron de Beaumarchais politically radical play Le mariage de Figaro (1781), the second play in what would become a trilogy based on the autobiographical character Figaro. Beaumarchais Le barbier de Séville had been performed in 1775 and the third play of the trilogy, La mère coupable, would be premièred in 1793. In his Figaro plays, Beaumarchais, who himself was a participant in the Revolution, working towards anti-aristocratic revolutionary ideas, sharply spoofs pre-Revolution French society.
Mozarts music for Figaro consists of conventional dry and accompanied recitative, aria, and ensemble pieces. The overture, despite having no development section, is essentially in sonata form. Mozart musically conveys the range of Figaros perturbation in his Act One cavatina, Se vuol ballare, by whimsically changing the character of his music to correspond with Figaros machinations. Mozart also imbues Figaros rondo-form aria, Non più andrai, farfallone amoroso, with colorful musical depictions of Cherubinos forthcoming military service through dotted rhythms and trumpet arpeggio fanfares. The Countess cavatina, Porgi amor, conveys the characters elevated social status through its graceful melodic language. The duet (Aprite, presto, aprite) between Susanna and Cherubino in Act Two bristles expectantly with its moto perpetuo string writing and nervous, patter vocal declamation. In the Counts and Susannas Act Three duet (Crudel! Perchè finora), the minor mode conveys the Counts initial grief and a shift to major mode, after Susanna agrees to come to the garden, confirms a sense of momentary resolution. Later, in the Counts accompanied recitative (Hai già vinta la causa!), the orchestra adds an extra emphasis to his verbal expression of anger and agitation through impetuous dotted rhythms and string tremolos. Through furiously rapid-scale passages and trills, the orchestra maintains this angry intensity in the Counts vengeance aria (Vedrò mentrio sospiro). Barbainas Act Four cavatina, Lho perduta...me meschina! introduces a minor mode melody of classic Mozartean pathos. The finale of Act Four brings the principal characters to beg the Counts forgiveness and the music swells from a pious hymn-like ensemble to a triumphant fanfare-laden exultation.
[allmusic.com]")
