Artvedbatneslautrup - Music For Oboe And Strings [CD]

Mozart Crusell J.C. BachChamber Music for Oboe and StringsIn 1777 Mozart set out from Salzburg, accompaniedonly by his mother, to seek his fortune elsewhere. Hisfather Leopold, who had guided his son's career, wascompelled to remain at home, out of necessaryprudence, while Mozart himself had been able to travelonly by resigning from the court musical establishmentof the ruling Archbishop. Mozart's journey took him, bythe end of October, to Mannheim, the seat of the ElectorPalatine and a city that boasted the most famousorchestra in Europe. He was clearly delighted at hisreception by musicians of the Mannheim court. In hissecond letter home to his father he gives an account ofhis visit to the house of the director of court instrumentalmusic, Christian Cannabich. There he met othermusicians, including an oboist whose playing he praisesand to whom he has given a copy of his oboe concerto,although he has forgotten the man's name. In laterletters he identifies him as Friedrich Ramm. The fourmonths in Mannheim brought no offer of employmentfrom the Elector, and Mozart planned to move on toParis, at first hoping to travel with Ramm and otherwind players from Mannheim, for whom he was to writea sinfonia concertante. He eventually travelled to Pariswith his mother in March, but, for whatever reason,failed to find the patronage he needed. In July hismother fell ill and died, and his father, anxious as everabout his son, urged him to return to Salzburg, where hehad procured for him the position of court organist.After long delays, the result of a return to Mannheim,where he renewed his attentions to the young singerAloysia Weber, and time spent in Munich with hiscousin, Mozart was back in his detested Salzburg byJanuary 1779. In 1780, however, he was able to renewhis association with the Mannheim musicians who hadmoved with the Elector to Munich, his capital as Electorof Bavaria, a position inherited on the death of hispredecessor. Here Mozart was commissioned to writean opera for the court, Idomeneo.It was at this time, probably in January 1781, that hewrote his Oboe Quartet in F major, K370, for Ramm.He was soon to be summoned to Vienna by his patron,the Archbishop of Salzburg, and all too soon to quarrelwith his and his father's patron, to spend his last tenyears in precarious independence in Vienna. Thequartet opens with an Allegro, the oboe stating the firstsubject and leading the way to a secondary theme,introduced by the violin. Instruments enter in imitationof each other in the central development, duly followedby a final recapitulation. The strings open the D minorAdagio, in which the oboe adds an embellished upperpart. The final Rondeau allows the oboe the firststatement of the principal theme, echoed by the violin,providing the framework for contrasting episodes thatwould have allowed Ramm full scope for the display ofhis ability, so much admired by the composer.Mozart embarked on independent life in Viennawith a degree of optimism, marrying, w