On this date in 1756 was born, in Salzburg Austria, the greatest composer of all time: Wolfgang Amadè Mozart (“Amadeus” was an in-joke used by Mozart to make sport of any perception of him as pompous, inspiring him to sign letters to friends as “Wolfgangus Amadeus Mozartus,” at least according to one of the biographies I have). Follows, one of his most well-known and admired compositions for piano, the Rondo in D major K.485.
Another wonderful rondo written concurrently with the above-embedded one, from his Horn Concerto #4, K.495.
Happy birthday, Herr Mozart. Would that you had lived longer, so that the world could have been blessed with more of your beautiful music. Not that the contribution you did make was anything to be sneezed at, of course. When a composer as gifted as the great Ludwig Van Beethoven cribbed directly from your work…well, there’s just not a whole lot more to be said, I shouldn’t think.
Spent many hours between grade school and college playing Mozart piano sonatas from a well-worn Kalmus edition. Lost access to a piano pretty much completely after that time, and never made good on a promise (threat?) to myself to buy a grand. In retirement, my home is too small even for an electronic keyboard, let alone a decent upright, and much less so a proper concert grand. Sigh…
The horn concerto video in particular brought back a familiar tingle I hadn’t felt in years, when a performance is *that* good and the emotions brought forth cannot be suppressed.
Thanks, Mike. I needed that…
–Bob T.
Happy to be of help, Bob. Be sure to check out the Schubert stuff I posted today, I think you’ll dig it.