Episode 4 - The Classical Period: Part 2
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Program
Joseph BOLOGNE, Chevalier de Saint-Georges
Six Concertante Quartets, No. 2 in G Minor
Wolfgang Amadeus MOZART
Quintet for Clarinet and Strings in A Major, K. 581
The Classical Period
Episode 4 of The Chronophone continues with the Classical period. If you haven’t seen episode 3, check it out for an introduction to the foundational elements of the period. In this episode we feature works by Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
Joseph BOLOGNE, Chevalier de Saint-Georges
Born into slavery on the island on Guadeloupe in 1745, Joseph Bologne earned a legacy as an acclaimed violinist, composer, fencer, solider, revolutionary and abolitionist. His mother, Nanon, was an enslaved woman and his father, George Bologne, was a wealthy French settler. Despite being the son of an enslaved woman, George Bologe actually acknowledged his son Joseph, which was not typically customary at the time, and ensured his son a promising future by moving his family to Paris and secured his son a spot at an elite private school. It was there that Bologne received a superb education and excelled in fencing. He graduated in 1764 and was bestowed the honor of officer of the King’s bodyguard, which gave him the title, “Chevalier.” At this time Bologne was, without a doubt, the “darling” of European society.
While not much is known about Bologne’s early musical education, it is clear that he was an accomplished violinist as several French composers dedicated works to him. Throughout his career Bologne composed operas, orchestral music, and chamber music. He published most of his instrumental music between 1773-1779, which included string quartets, violin concertos, and symphonies concertantes. In 1776 there was a proposal to make him the music director of the Paris Opéra; however, this was blocked by petitions from the opera’s leading ladies to spare them from “degrading their honour and delicate conscience by having them submit to the orders of a mulatto,” and proving that despite Bologne’s status in Parisian circles, he was not immune to racism. In the face of this, Bologne persevered and continued to make a name for himself, so much so that when Mozart spent a year in Paris (1778-1779) he could not find suitable work because Bologne superseded him in popularity. Bologne’s collections of string quartets were some of the first in Paris. They strayed from the classical “norms” established by Franz Joseph Haydn in that they only have two movements and each instrument has moments of independence throughout the quartet.
Wolfgang Amadeus MOZART
One of the most renowned composers of classical music, W.A. Mozart was born on January 27, 1756 in Salzburg, Austria. Throughout his career he composed more than 600 works in every genre of the time, all of which profoundly influenced Western music history. Mozart received his education, along with his siblings, from his father Leopold Mozart.He began to show his musical gifts at a very young age and, according to his father, he composed his earliest compositions when he was five years old. Throughout his childhood and teenage years Mozart spent an extensive amount of time traveling around Europe with his father playing at various courts. In 1773 he received employment as a court musician in Salzburg, and although he was quite successful there, after some time he started to desire something more. He began another period of travel in search of employment and in 1778 his search brought him to Paris, where he was undoubtedly exposed to various musical styles, but could not find suitable long-term employment.
In 1781 Mozart was summoned to Vienna, and by the end of the year he had established himself as the finest keyboard player in the city. He spent his final years in Vienna, which were among the busiest and most successful of his life. It was during this time that he met Anton Stadler, the extraordinary clarinet and basset horn player for whom Mozart wrote many works, including his Clarinet Concerto, K622 and his Quintet for Clarinet and Strings, K581. Mozart wrote the Clarinet Quintet in September 1789. It is a late manifestation of Mozart’s “classical style” of the mid-1780s and the first piece of its kind, for clarinet and strings. It’s lineage inspired the next generation of composers to write for this arrangement of instruments. Throughout the quintet, Mozart showcases his innate ability to create and fuse gestures within a multi-movement work. He frequently pits the clarinet against the strings, which not only creates drama, but equally distributes roles between the instrumental forces. In doing so Mozart cements this work not as a solo feat for the Clarinet, but a true exemplar of chamber music.
Credits
Musicians
Violins: Emma Burge and Zenas Hsu
Viola: Daniel Orsen
Cello: Eunghee Cho
Clarinet: Nicholas Brown
Staff
Host: Chris Voss
Principal Videographer: Scott Quade
Assistant Videographer: Chris DeSanty
Recording Engineer: Antonio Oliart Ros
Video Editor: Michael Schondek
Research conducted by: Christina Dioguardi
Thank Yous
The entire Phoenix Phamily would like to thank the Boston Athenæum for hosting us in their beautiful space during these episodes.
Bibliography
Alderson, Tyler. “The Most Interesting Man in the World.” May 6, 2020. https://www.classicalwcrb.org/post/most-interesting-man-world#stream/0.
Banat, Gabriel. "Saint-Georges [Saint-George], Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de." Grove Music Online. 2001. https://doi.org/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.24316.
Burkholder, J P., Donald J. Grout, and Claude V. Palisca. A History of Western Music. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2014.
Eisen, Cliff, and Stanley Sadie. "Mozart, (Johann Chrysostom) Wolfgang Amadeus." Grove Music Online. 2001. https://doi.org/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.6002278233.