PROGRAM NOTES
by Dr. Richard E. Rodda

Overture to The Impresario, K. 486
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)

Composed in 1786.
Premiered on February 7, 1786 at Schönbrunn Palace, near Vienna.

“Spring Festival on a Mid-Winter’s Day,” it was called: an elaborate reception given by Emperor Joseph II in honor of Duke Albert von Sachsen-Teschen, Governor-General of the Austrian Netherlands, and his wife, the Archduchess Maria Christine, on February 7, 1786. The site chosen for this Mayish revel was one of the few greens spots in Vienna at that time of the year — the Orangerie at Schönbrunn Palace, on the outskirts of town. Along with the preparations for the banquet and the plans for the decorations of exotic flowers, blossoms and fruits, the royal stewards issued orders for the evening’s entertainment, which was to consist of a newly composed, one-act opera buffa by Court Composer Antonio Salieri (Prima la musica e poi le parole — “First the Music and then the Words,” a theme treated again 150 years later by Richard Strauss in his last opera, Capriccio) and a one-act farce by the playwright Gottlieb Stephanie the Younger (Der Schauspieldirektor — “The Impresario”) with a few interpolated musical numbers by Mozart. (Stephanie and Mozart had worked together four years earlier, when they produced The Abduction from the Seraglio.) Mozart’s feelings upon receiving the commission early in 1786 were mixed. His greatest ambition was always to compose operas, perhaps even some day to take over Salieri’s position at court, and this chance to compose specifically for the imperial ear was welcome. On the other hand, he was frantically busy with preparations for his own concerts. He had just finished the Piano Concertos K. 467 and 482, and was readying two more such pieces (K. 488 and 491) for his Lenten programs. Most pressing, however, were the preparations for The Marriage of Figaro, which was scheduled for its premiere at the Burgtheater on May 1st. He put Figaro briefly aside, however, and composed an overture, two soprano arias, a trio and an ensemble finale for The Impresario between January 18th and February 3rd.

On the afternoon of February 7, 1786, according to several press reports, the invited noble guests left their winter lodgings in Vienna aboard elegant carriages for the four-mile ride to the Habsburg summer palace, Schönbrunn. There they were treated to a rich feast, consumed to the strains of a wind band playing selections from Salieri’s opera La Grotto di Trofonio, premiered at the Burgtheater during the previous season. Two stages were erected at opposite ends of the Schönbrunn Orangerie for the “Spring Festival,” one for Stephanie’s German comedy with Mozart’s music, the other for Salieri’s little opera buffa. (This double bill was given publicly three times during ensuing weeks at the Kärntnertor Theater.) The Impresario, performed by the German troupe of the Burgtheater, was a long-winded and heavy-handed farce on the trials of an opera producer in settling the disputes and calming the rivalry of two competing sopranos. The topicality of the play soon rendered it obsolete, and several attempts were made in later years to incorporate Mozart’s delightful, stranded music into other theatrical vehicles, including one by Goethe in 1797. These adaptations have displayed no longevity, and Mozart’s contributions to The Impresario are usually represented today only by concert presentations of its sparkling Overture, a situation Alfred Einstein found fully justified: “The finest piece in this occasional work is the witty Overture, which is in the purest buffo style and of which the form is full of surprises; it towers above the occasion for which it was written.”

MORE NOTES ON THIS PROGRAM

ELGAR: Violin Concerto in B minor, Op. 61
BRAHMS: Symphony No. 1 in C minor, Op. 68

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