Jakub Hrůša conducts the last three symphonies of W. A. Mozart

Schweinfurt, Theater
19:30 Uhr

Many aspects of Mozart’s life seem like a marvellous tale. At five years of age, he was already an excellent pianist and sometimes would play blindfold as an additional attraction. He also composed more or less non-stop, sometimes »helter-skelter« – whether in his carriage or during mealtimes. When he died at the early age of 35, he left behind over 600 compositions – using up more than eight kilometres of music paper! This year’s Mozart project will culminate in the performance his three last symphonies in one evening. For many, these symphonies are the epitome of Mozart’s world; his individual instrumentation and melodic inventiveness fill them with life and expressive power. For Mozart, his work was just a normal job: »You need to work hard and perform well in order to escape dependency.« Over the course of his life, this is exactly what he managed to achieve: for a long period of time, he was dependent on his commissioners. However, the three symphonies he wrote in 1788 in only two months were produced for no apparent external reason and with no prospect of being performed – at a time when the fame he had recently gained in Vienna was already beginning to fade, leaving him to make his way (not very successfully) as a freelance artist. These three last contributions to the genre mark the culmination of his symphonic compositions. In performing these milestones, we are taking up an idea of the great Mozart conductor Nikolaus Harnoncourt, who saw these symphonies as a unit and performed all three one after another without an interval, like a great symphony of Brucknerian dimensions. Listen closely: doesn’t Symphony no. 40 begin as quietly, as furtively as one of Bruckner’s slow middle movements?

Jakub Hrůša Conductor

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Symphonie Nr. 39 Es-Dur KV 543
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Symphonie Nr. 40 g-Moll KV 550
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Symphonie Nr. 41 C-Dur KV 551 »Jupiter«