Famous Overtures Cosi fan tutte The Magic Flute Don Giovanni A Midsummer Night's Dream and many others

Capella Istmpolitaaa Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra Barry Wordsworth Anthony Bramall Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 - 1791) Overtures Felix Mendelssohn - Bartholdy (1809 - 1847) A Midsummer Night's Dream: Overture, Opus 21 The life of Mozart and more particularly his early death have given rise to romantic speculation of various kinds. The film based on the play Amadeus, intended by its author as a fictional study of jealousy and human paradox, has given further currency to gossip about the composer's death, with writers suggesting various candidates for the position of murderer, ranging from his wife's lover to the jealous husband of a favourite pupil, free-masons seeking revenge for the betrayal of their secrets, or; as in the work of the Russian poet Pushkin, turned into an opera by Riiky-Korsakov, the Court Composer Salieri. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born in Salzburg in 1756, the son of court musician, Leopold Mozart, who in the year of his son's birth had published an important book on violin-playing and was winning a reputation for this and for his work as a composer. Leopold Mozart realised very soon the exceptional talent of his son, and resolved to do his best to foster it, sacrificing at the same time his own career. He was to become Vice Kapellmeister to the Archbishop of Salzburg, retaining that position until his death in 1787. In childhood Mozart and his elder sister Nannerl, the only two surviving children of the family, travelled widely throughout Europe, performing before kings and queens, the nobility and the curious. This period of early success was followed by disappointment as the boy grew older. Salzburg seemed to offer very little opportunity, and the death of the old Archbishop in 1772 had led to the appointment of a reformist successor who proved very muchless indulgent to members of his household. It seemed that Mozart deserved better than provincial Salzburg could offer, and in 1777 he left home to seek a position elsewhere, visiting M~inich,Mannheim and Paris without the kind of success that he wanted, compelled finally to return reluctantly home again. It was not until 1781 that Mozart eventually broke with his patron, the Archbishop, during the course of a visit to Vienna. The last ten years of his life were spent in the imperial capital, without significant patronage and, more important, without the immediate guidance of his father, who remained in Salzburg. Independent at last, Mozart married imprudently, won some early success in the opera-house and in concerts of his works, but was never one to cut his coat according to the cloth. His income from composition, performance and teaching was variable and as the decade came to an end proved quite inadequate for the maintenance of what he regarded as a suitable style of living. At the time of his death Mozart was enjoying some popular success with his German opera The Mngic Flute and it seemed that his fortunes had begun to take a turn for the better, in spite of the neglect he suffered from the new Emperor. He died on 5th December, 1791, after a short illness, leaving unfinished the commissioned Requie~llMnss which he had superstitiously suggested might celebrate his own death. Salzburg had no permanent opera-house. Nevertheless Mozart, even as a child, wrote music for theatrical performances of one sort or another, before he finally availed himself of the opporhmitieBurgtheater on 16th July 1782. It blends elements of comedy with high seriousness. The Oilerttrre, in "Turkish" style, uses cymbals, triangle and bass drum, piccolo, oboes, clarinets, homs, trumpets, drums and strings, and includes a slower central section. Der Scllnllspieldirektor, an occasional work, was demanded by the Emperor for performance at the palace of Schonbr~umon 7th February 1786. With seven speaking parts and three singers it parodies the difficulties faced by an impresario and formed part of a double bill with the Court Composer Salieri's Prinrn In iillrsicn poi le parole. The lively C major Oilertlrre is scored for flutes, oboes, clarinets, bassoons, horns, trumpets, drums and strings. Le ltozze di Fignro was first performed on 1st May 1786. The text was by Lorenzo da Ponte, adapted from the second play of the socially subversive trilogy by Beaumarchais, in which master is outwitted by man. The Overtrtre, ~vrittentwo daysbefore the opening, is closely related in mood but not in themes to the drama and is scored for the usual orchestra, which now includes clarinets The drama giocoso Do11 Gioirn~llri,based by da Ponte on a Spanish drama concerning the amatory exploits and ghostly punishment of the dissolute Don Juan, was commissioned for Prague, where Fignro had won considerable success and where Mozart was always popular, to celebrate the marriage of the Emperor's niece. In the event there were delays, and Do11 Giovn~zniwas given a fortnight later, on 29th October 1787. The Overtltre was written down overnight for the dress rehearsal on 28th October. It is scored for the same instruments as in the preceding work and opens with hints of ghostly vengeance, to be taken by the stone statue of the wronged father that Don Giovanni has murdered, followed by the rapider music of a sonata-form Allegro, the mixture of tragedy and comedy that marks the opera. Lorenzo da Ponte's next libretto for Mozart was ordered by the Emperor and first performed at the Burgtheater in Vienna on 26th January 1790, its success affected by the death of the Emperor in February. Cosifa~ttlttte deals with the story of two lovers who are induced by anelderly cynic to test the faithfulnessof their mistresses by returning in disguise, after pretending to be called away to the wars. The Overture, with the usual full orchestra, has a slow introduction, followed by a lively Allegro, quoting only the notes that are to accompany the words of the title towards the end of the piece. The German opera Die Zauberfate with a libretto by the actor-manager Emmanuel Sehikaneder, was enjoying considerable popular success as Mozart lay dying in early December 1791. It had had its first performance at the suburban Theater auf der Wieden on 30th September. The piece combines magic with masonic ritual. The Ouertttre, in the masonic key of E flat, makes use of three trombones in addition to the usual orchestra and opens with solemn chords and a slow introduction, followed by a cheerful contrapuntal Allegro, interrupted for a moment by the solemn three-fold chords that represent the knocking at the door of the initiate. Le clerrrerlzn di Tito was written for Prague to a libretto adapted from Metastasio. It was commissioned for the coronation as King of Bohemia of the Emperor Leopold 11, who had shown no inclination to favour Mozart in Vienna. It was performed in the imperial presence on 6th September, to be described by the Empress as "porcheria tedesca", but Prague audiences reacted more favourably, although the story of imperial clemency by the Roman Emperor Titus lacks anything of the originality of the operas immediately preceding it. The Overture, including clarinets as well as trumpets and drums, is well suited to an occasion of official celebration and without any slow introduction makes an immediate call on our attention. Felix Mendelssohn, grandson of the distinguished Jewish thinker Moses Mendelssohn, was born in Hambura in 1809, second of the four children of the banker Abraham Mendelssohi. The adhonalname Bartholdy was assumed at the suggestion of Felix Mendelssohn's rich uncle, the art-collector and writer Takob Salomon-Bartholdv. a token of the fact that that branch of the family had become Christian, accepting'what the Jewish poet Heine was to describe as "a ticket of admission into European culture". As a child Mendelssohn showed prodigious talent in composition and as a pianist, gifts that received parental encouragement. It was on the advice of old Cherubini, the dour director of the Conservatoire in Paris, that his father allowed him to become a professional musician, a career in which he was to distinguish himself as a composer and as a conductor. In his earlier years Mendelssohn wrote twelve string symphonies, one of which he arranged for fill1 orchestra. Of the five later symphonies three form part of standard orchestral repertoire, the so-called Scotfish Synzphorly, the Refor~irntior~and the Itnlinr~,all of them coiicei\~ed,at least, during the Grand Tour of Europe that Abraham Mendelssohn had planned for his son in the early 1830s. Mendelssohn's subsequent career took him to Leipzig, where, from 1835, he conducted the Gewandhaus Orchestra and was later to be instrumental in the establishment of a conservatory. In 1841 he became involved in attempts in Berlin by the new Prussian king, Friedrich Wilhelm IV, to bring about a general reform of the arts in his kingdom, attempts that were to be largely frustrated. The association with Potsdam, hoxvever, led to the composition of incidental music for plays by Sophocles and Racine, and for Shakespeare's A MidslflrlrllerNigl~t's Drmnl, 011 the subject of which he had written an Oilertltre. Shakespeare's play was an early favourite of the Mendelssohi family, and in 1826 Felix Mendelssolu~had written an Ogerhtre, a musical summary of A Millslrrilirlrr Night's Dren~n,inspired by the German translati011of August Wilhelm Schlegel, brother- ui-larv of Mendelssohn's A~mtDorothea, and by the beauty of a summer evening in the garden of the family house in Berlin, where Abraham Melidelssohn had settled in 1812.

Capella Istropolitana The Capella Istropolitana was founded in 1983 by members of the Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra, at first as a chamber orchestra and then as an orchestra large enough to tackle the standard classical repertoire. Based i11 Bratislava, its name drawn from the ancient name still preserved in the Academia Istropolitana, the orchestra works in the recording studio and undertakes frequent tours throughout Europe. Recordings by the orchestra on the Naxos label include Tl~eBest ofBnroq1t.e Mltsic, Bach's Brnrlderlbltrg Collcerfos,fifteen each of Mozart's and Haydn's symphonies as well as works by Handel, Vivaldi and Telemann.

Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra The Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra has benefited considerably from the work of its distinguished conductors. These include Vdclav Talich (1949 - 1952), Ludovit Rajter, Ladislav Slovdk and Libor Pesek. Zdenek Kosler also had a lo~igand distinguished association with the orchestra and conducted many of its most successful recordings, among them the complete symphonies of Dvosk. Barry Wordsworth Barry Wordsworth's career has been dominated by his work for the Royal Ballet which started when he played the solo part in Frank Martin's Hnrpsicliord Coi~cerfo,a score used by Sir Kenneth MacMillan for his ballet, Lns Herr~tnl~ns.In 1973 he became Assistant Conductor of the Royal Ballet's Touring Orchestra and in 1974 Principal Conductor of Sadlers Wells Royal Ballet. In 1987 while retaining his connection with both Royal Ballet companies as guest conductor, Barry Wordsworth also worked with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic, the Philharmonia, the Ulster Orchestra, the BBC Concert and the London Philharmonic Orchestra. For the Naxos label Wordsworth has recorded a number of Mozart and Haydn symphonies, works by Smetana and Dvoi& and for the Marco Polo label works by Bax.

Anthony Bramall Anthony Bramall was born in London in 1957 and spent five years as a chorister at Westminster Abbey, before co~itu~uinghis musical education at the Purcell School and at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. He attended courses in conducting under VilemTausky and had varied experience as a conductor in Britaiu, working with Northern Ireland Opera, Phoenix Opera and Spectrum Opera, becoming, ui 1981, Assistant to the General Music Director in the Municipal Theatre in Pforzheim. In 1984 he won a special prize in the Hans Swarowsky Conducting Competition and the following year was guest conductor with the South German Chamber Orchestra. Since 1985 he has been Director of Music at the M~uiicipalTheatre in A~~gsburg. MOZART: [P Amw-L= lp~md~Lss WtrldPte, T& dl. i%nt~K. 87 B- a-El A-wdm m nd-&= ra~llleaeo.~~ - km&d ai the C- HBn of tbE CmhoSIwak Wo(Bmisava), from 6tb w 9th Sepmber, 1W Fmda I - 14h rmd arkCoocut Hall of tk Slwuk FMhmmd~