The Joy of Mozart

Close to finishing the book (!) so that everyone can have the wonderful success this performer described:

Hello Friends,
I'm writing to finish the book! I just found out that something has been posted here on the Joy of Mozart page that is false (but that I am unable to remove for some unknown reason):
In any case, I will NOT be performing in October as the false post says:

THIS IS FALSE!! FRI, OCT 15 AT 7 PM CDT AND 1 MORE
The Joy of Mozart
Event · 38 people interested
DeVos Performance Hall in Grand Rapids, Michigan

Hang in with me -- I will let you know when the book is finished and real performances will again happen! Thank you!!!

Thanks to the Mozart Society of America for sharing this free presentation-- a workshop on Mozart's Requiem. Heads up to singers and Mozart lovers alike!

Huddersfield Choral Society - Online Choral Workshop Huddersfield Choral Society is delighted to invite singers from across the world to join us in our first ever online choral workshop.

Tomorrow is Mozart's birthday, celebrated around the world. Here is a link to digital events, beginning tomorrow, of this year's Mozart Week in Salzburg. Cheers to the unestimable Wolgangerl!

Mozarteum Mozarteum Website

Summer, 2020

Dear Friends,

I hope you are staying well. As I finish up the books on Mozart—after working on them many years—I find it is like cooking a Thanksgiving dinner for twenty, but somehow winding up with enough food for 100! Even though I’ve culled and discarded entire chapters, there are many things that I’m not sure will be included in the books simply because it will make them too long.

For example, in the chapter on Mozart’s use of strokes (about what they direct musicians to do, and how pianists can perform them to do convey what he intended on today’s pianos) I had included the following aside about seeing Mozart’s strokes in person, on a day in June many summers ago. I share it with you now with hopes for meaningful musical encounters in your present summer.

"On seeing Notes marked with Strokes (NS) in a Mozart manuscript"

I am grateful to the Morgan Library in NYC for my first experience of holding and viewing an autograph manuscript by Mozart. The autograph that I had hoped to see was of a Mozart piano concerto, but because it was being prepared for exhibit, I was instead offered the opportunity to view an early symphony. This was in many ways fortuitous, because I wasn’t familiar with the work and everything about viewing it was unknown to me.

I hadn’t anticipated what it would be like to hold the very paper that Mozart had held, on which he had written out sounds that he was internally hearing as he touched it; I was overwhelmed by this proximity, and needed several tissues to dry my tears before I could examine what I was holding.

I found almost everything about the autograph manuscript to be shocking. First of all, the paper size was small (it seemed roughly half the size of usual paper today). The manuscript was kept in a fancy, hand-tooled box that looked like a cross between a jewelry case and a casket (which, though understandable, seemed a profoundly inappropriate housing for this form of utter energy and life) covered in light blue satin that was extensively pleated, tucked and decorated. On the small pages, the writing of the orchestra parts was almost miniscule; however, everything was clear, and somehow all the notes fit—actually they fit quite beautifully—into the proportions of the page; only Mozart’s signature had been squeezed in at an odd angle.

I had a heightened awareness of the great importance of each mark on the page. The ink was mostly not faded, and the lines and curves of Mozart’s hand were elegant and sure, simultaneously formal and free, matching the grandness of the symphony’s opening in dotted rhythms. The second area began with a rest, which was rhythmically such a surprise that I heard myself gasp. Mozart’s fresh, new musical ideas sparkled with life.

I turned a page to see an ascending passage approaching the recap with strokes over the notes in the upper instruments. As he marked them, Mozart’s handwriting became more animated and vigorous, seeming to take on the energy of the strokes as the notes virtually lept forward to the musical goal! Seeing the energetic effect of the strokes reflected in Mozart’s own hand, I realized I was witnessing his giving his music its being.

*******
Thank you for your patience the many years it has taken me to write the Joy of Mozart Manual for Performers and Teachers, and the Joy of Mozart Method for Students. Now to find a publisher who can get the particular joy of Mozart’s music they describe to YOU!

Warmest wishes,

Mary

One of my students shared this article with me, which brought tears of laughter and a sighting of the enemy... "dishonest harmonies" (playing harmonies dishonestly)/ A marvelous piece by Jeremy Denk. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2013/04/08/every-good-boy-does-fine PS. You must click on the link, not the photo

I've had some inquiries about the article I wrote that introduces Mozart's systematic use of expression markings to supply the dynamic and rhythmic details of his music. It was published in the International Journal of Musicology in 2016 (ed. by Elliott Antokoletz) and this link will take you to it (on the JoyofMozart.com website, for those who are interested). Something while you shelter (I hope with a nice cup of tea ☕️🍪) ...http://www.joyofmozart.com/new-page

Mozart: The Elephant in today’s Classroom — The Joy of Mozart Mary Robbins, “Mozart: The Elephant in the Classroom,” published in the International Journal of Musicology, New Series Vol.2, Elliott Antokoletz and Michael von Albrecht, editors, PL Academic Research, Peter Lang Publisher; Frankfurt am Main; March, 2016; pp. 77- 121.

From Beethoven's isolation to our isolation... Jonathan Biss' recital last night (from in his home, rather in NY where it had been scheduled at the 92nd St Y)... the last 3 sonatas ...composed in deafness, works of "beauty, power and truth." Biss taps the life force in an incredible performance.
lifhttps://livestream.com/92y/events/9041679/videos/203576554

Jonathan Biss, piano Jonathan Biss, piano by 92nd Street Y on Livestream - Livestream.com

Norrington says "there are 4" types of sounds (I say 5,.... but interesting to see his comments from 1996!)

Mozart: Symphony No.39 K.543 + Rehearsal / Norrington Radio-Sinfonieorchester Stuttgart (1996 Movie) 1. Rehearsal - [0:00] 2. Mozart: Symphony No.39 K.543 - 1st [28:51] 2nd [39:48] 3rd [47:12] 4th [51:03] Roger Norrington Radio-Sinfonieorchester Stuttgart 1996

Sharing this Happy New Year post from the Joy of Mozart site!
Happy 2020, Everyone!

I’ve sent the first part of the Joy of Mozart Manual and Method to several distinguished colleagues to ask their feedback before sending to a publisher, and their comments have all been very positive as well as helpful. I wanted to share a question from one of them, since it might be a question that some of you may also have. As you know from reading the articles on the site, the Joy of Mozart approach is a way to understand and perform Mozart’s music according to his use of five types of expression markings. These markings indicate five types of sounds of notes in his music (in addition to pitch), and the JoM approach gives today’s pianists specific action steps (or “actions”) for performing these distinctly different types of sounds that result in Mozart’s interpretation for his music (which is beyond exciting!).

This was the reader’s question:
"I’ve read about the first 15 pages and already find it fascinating! I’m eager to read more! I already have a question: Why is the first note of a slur not included as an important note sound type? I’m thinking particularly of Malcom Bilson’s video “Knowing the Score” where he talks about the LH of the opening of K. 333 where the syncopated figures there create a restless feeling because of the emphasis implied by the slurring. Does not the first note of a slur mean “heavy” or “emphasized”?”

In response:
The first note under a slur is already one of the five types of notes that Mozart uses; it’s a Continuous Note under a slur (CN), which is played legato. So, does the first note under a slur need to be played a special way that is different from the second, or third, etc. Continuous Notes under a slur? In this case, no; all CNs are played the same way. However, the last note under a slur (LN) has a completely different type of sound, so it is played a different way, and is a different (as you say, “important”) note type.

What MB is saying is more of a general comment that refers to the naturally occurring emphasis at the beginning of a slur, which happens for at least 3 reasons: a slur often begins on a main beat, which of course has a natural emphasis. If it begins in another place in the measure, the first note under the slur sounds emphasized because there was no sound connecting it to a previous note. It will also naturally sound emphasized by being heard longer because of being continuous (legato). So I don’t think we need to think about the first note under a slur in terms of “heavy" or “emphasized" beyond these natural emphases (any emphasis from us would sound belabored). Mozart accounted for naturally-occurring emphases in his use of expression markings. (Of course, we can always play a greater or lesser dynamic for any note; the actions of the approach allow us to do this incrementally, to create the speech-like inflections that the sound relationships that Mozart's five note types (I call them M5NT) naturally create in their myriad juxtapositions and situations.)

The Joy of Mozart manual talks about two levels of expression—general and detailed—in Mozart’s music. We have been taught a good bit about the general level, but we haven’t been taught about the level of the details: these are the specific nuances of sounds indicated by the expression markings that convey to us a deeper meaning of his music.

I just wanted you all to know that the Joy of Mozart Manual and Method is shaping up! From it, you will be able to clarify all the ways that Mozart shows us his music’s expression. While it’s coming together, I’ll be happy for us to discuss any questions you might have if you would like to send them to me! I’ll post them here on the Mozartiana page.

All Good Cheer and Warm Wishes throughout your new year!

Mary