Symphony concert you’re sure to ‘like’

Get out your smartphones. Eckart Preu and the Spokane Symphony Orchestra and Chorale again ask you to play along with “Mozart’s Facebook” tonight. This concert – the second of the season’s Casual Classics offerings – will let the audience have a chance to let its hair down (take off the wig) and have some fun with the life, music and friends of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. As with the first Casual Classics in September, the audience is encouraged to have their mobile phones ready to participate in the Facebook portion of the program.

Two composers who greatly influenced the music of Mozart were Wenzel (Vaclav) Pichl and Josef Mysleviecek. Both were Czech musicians who knew the Mozart family very well.

Pichl was a violinist, music director and writer. His Symphony in C Major (“Calliope”) is cast in the traditional four movement form of the 18th century. He also had a scholarly mind, unusual for professional musicians at this time. He translated the libretto of Mozart’s “The Magic Flute” into Czech.

Pichl died at the age of 63 while performing a violin concerto.

Mysleviecek met the 14-year-old Mozart in 1770. He was close to the family until a dispute over a commission ended the friendship.

The orchestra will perform Mysleviecek’s Overture No. 2 in A Major.

Of couse the star of the night will be Mozart.

Mozart’s Symphony No. 34 in C Major, written when he was 23, has three movements instead of the usual four. The second movement (Andante di molto) is for strings with divided violas and a single bassoon doubling the cello and bass part; this provides a unique color to the ensemble.

The first and third movements are in traditional sonata form. The last movement is in a very fast tarantella-like rhythm.The vocal canon in four parts “Bona nox! Bist a rechta Ox” is from a set of 10 canons Mozart composed in 1788. The original bawdy text of this brief work is in Latin, German, French, Italian and English. There have been numerous ways in which these words have been retranslated to be made more suitable for the ears and sensibilities of general audiences.

Mozart composed a great deal of sacred vocal music during his brief life, including nearly 20 Masses or Mass movements.

Mass No. 7 in C Major (“Trinity”) was composed in 1773 when Mozart was 17. It is a setting of the traditional text of the Catholic Latin Mass.

The Spokane Symphony Chorale, under the direction of Dr. Julian Gomez, has prepared this work to highlight the youthful yet brilliant genius of Mozart, whose middle name means “beloved of God.”