Mozart and Strinasacchi in Vienna
About this episode
The episode discusses the commissioning of Mozart's Violin Sonata No. 32 by Regina Strinasacchi in 1784.
Synopsis On today’s date in 1784, Italian violinist Regina Strinasacchi gave a concert in Vienna and had the good sense to commission a new work for the occasion from an up-and-coming young Austrian composer named Wolfgang Mozart. “We have the famous Strinasacchi from Mantua here right now. She is a very good violinist, has excellent taste, and a lot of feeling in her playing — I’m composing a sonata for her at this moment that we’ll be performing together on Thursday,” he wrote to his father. Wolfgang’s papa must have been pleased about the cash commission, but might have frowned to learn that Strinasacchi received her part barely in time for the performance, and that his son hadn’t even bothered to write out his own part in full. Also, Regina and Wolfgang never got together to rehearse prior to the concert, which meant that she was probably sight-reading her part, and he improvising his. No matter — the new sonata was received warmly and afterward Wolfgang had a whole month to dot all the musical i’s and cross all the musicals t’s in his score before it was printed. And, for the record, this Violin Sonata No. 32 is arguably one of Mozart’s finest. Music Played in Today's…
Topics covered
- Mozart
- Strinasacchi
- Vienna
- classical music
- violin
- concert history
Keywords
- Mozart
- Strinasacchi
- Violin Sonata No. 32
- 1784
- classical music
- Vienna
- concert
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: American Public Media
Books & works: Violin Sonata No. 32
More episodes of Composers Datebook
- Britten in America
- Virgil Thomson reviews Elliott Carter
- Bloch's greatest hit
- Higdon's 'Splendid Wood'
- "Citizen Kane" scores big
- Thomas' 'Sun Threads'
Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the Composers Datebook podcast page.