PROGRAM NOTES

Wolfgang Mozart – Chaconne from Idomeneo, rè di Creta, K. 367

Wolfgang Mozart Born January 27, 1756, Salzburg, Austria. Died December 5, 1791, Vienna, Austria.

Chaconne from Idomeneo, rè di Creta, K. 367 The final stage directions in the libretto to Idomeneo, Mozart’s breakthrough opera, are: “Here follows the coronation of Idamante, which is done in pantomime, and the chorus, which is sung during the coronation and the ballet.” Today we don’t think of ballet as having the last word in opera, but Mozart was following in the formidable footsteps of Christoph Gluck, whose great tragedies, Iphigénie en Aulide and Iphigénie en Tauride, conclude with grand dance spectacles.

Idomeneo holds a special place in Mozart’s output, not just because it was one of the first works to suggest the magnificence of his talent, but also because of the seriousness and ambition of its music. It drew great attention at the time for a still relatively unheralded composer—curious Salzburgers made the trip to Munich for the premiere—and it has always been held in unusually high regard by serious musicians (a full century later, Brahms would call it “in general a miracle”).

For the ballet at the end, Mozart blatantly—and admiringly—modeled his main theme after the chaconne that concludes Gluck’s Iphigénie en Aulide. (The chaconne is a dance that probably originated in post-conquest Mexico and traveled first to Spain, then to Italy, and finally to France.) Although Mozart complained about having to write ballet music at all—“those cursed dances,” he called them—this grand chaconne is an impressive and powerful piece, both brilliantly ceremonial and also richly varied in its moods, as interludes for solo dancers (the score lists their names atop each section) alternate with the big theme.

Phillip Huscher is the program annotator for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

© by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. All rights reserved. Program notes may not be reproduced; brief excerpts may be quoted if due acknowledgment is given to the author and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

These notes appear in galley files and may contain typographical or other errors. Programs and artists subject to change without notice.