Program  notes compiled by Walt Nicholes from various sources, including Grove and Internet

Symphony No. 35 in D,  K.385 - "Haffner"

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, (1756-1791)

     In the Spring of 1782, when Mozart was 26 and in a whirl of composing and personal activity, his father Leopold asked him to write a symphony to honor a family friend, Siegmund Haffner, about to be elevated into the nobility in a grand ceremony ten days hence.  And could he have the symphony "immediately?" Today, we might call this parental over-expectation.

     Nevertheless, obedient son Wolfgang replied: "Well, I am up to my eyes in work. By Sunday week I have to arrange my opera ("Abduction from the Seraglio") for wind instruments, otherwise someone will beat me to it and secure the profits instead of me.  And now you ask me to write a new symphony, too!  How on earth can I do so?...

     "Well I must just spend the night over it for that is the only way, and to you, dearest father, I sacrifice it.  You may rely on having something from me by every post. I shall work as fast as possible and, as far as haste permits, I shall write something good."

     At the same time, he was working on his new opera as noted above, moving to a new residence, and preparing to be married on August 4th, only five days before the "Haffner deadline" on July 29.  The young super-genius, working literally day and night, managed to send the first movement to his father before the event, and five more movements by August 7th.

      A half year later, he asked for the work to be returned and made significant changes, deleting an introductory march and a minuet (now lost).  He also added flutes and clarinets to increase musical impact and in this form, the work was first performed in Mozart's own academy on March 23, 1783. 

     On the occasion, he wrote to his father: "My new Haffner symphony has positively amazed me for I had forgotten every single note of it. It must surely produce a good effect.  He added that the concert was a sellout with the Emperor present ("who applauded me loudly.")  The "Haffner", published both in Vienna and Paris, became both  an outstanding musical and financial success. It was also later sold to one Prince von Fürstenberg who was given to believe he possessed the only copy. (Playing time approximately 20 minutes.)

Requiem Mass in D

(Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, 1756-1791)

       Speculation abounds concerning the creation of this work, lately due in some part to the film "Amadeus", a fictionalized biography of Mozart as told by his rival, Salieri who while confined to an insane asylum, supposedly confesses to murdering Mozart. 

     In the movie, Mozart -- who composed 41 symphonies, 21 operas, and hundreds of instrumental and choral pieces, over 600 works in all in starting at the age of five -- is portrayed as brilliant but emotionally immature.

     That Mozart spent his last hours writing and singing the alto part while three friends helped him develop a quartet for the Requiem is without basis. False, too, is the story Mozart was poisoned by musical rival Antonio Salieri, who actually helped Mozart in his early career. And the oft-repeated tale about Mozart's body unceremoniously thrown into a mass grave of Viennese peasants, without proper funeral ceremony, is false. 

       The truth about the Requiem is probably about as follows:  In July, 1791, Mozart began work on the piece on a lucrative commission from Count Walsegg-Stuppach who wanted a Requiem to honor his recently deceased wife. Evidence indicates the Count planned to claim authorship of the work as Mozart was sworn to secrecy in the contract.

     But with just the voice parts, bass and orchestration of early movements completed, Mozart died on December 5, 1971, leaving his widow, Constanze, to deliver a completed score or return the sizable commission fee of 200 ducats. Needing the money, she first engaged Joseph Leopold Eybler, a student of Mozart, to complete the work. When he failed to deliver, she prevailed upon Mozart's friend and favorite pupil, Franz Xavier Süssmayer, to recopy the completed portions and add the remaining movements since Mozart had discussed these, including the orchestration, in detail with Süssmayer. 

        Two copies were made when Süssmayer finished the work, one for the publishers  Brietkopf & Härtel and the other for Count Wallsegg.  The Requiem was finally performed in a memorial for the Count's wife on December l4, 1793.  Later the Count sued, saying his rights of ownership were violated, but Constanze thwarted the lawsuit with borrowed money and bought back the rights from Wallsegg. After Mozart's death, she toured Europe, singing Mozart's works and outliving him by 50 years.

       Whatever the details and whatever he intended, after two centuries of performance before  awed audiences, the majestic impassioned Requiem has become a memorial to the man himself:  incomparable musical genius Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. 

Tonight's notables

Marci Alegant, Choral Arts Society director, has Master of Music degrees in Music Education from the Eastman School of Music and in Choral Conducting from McGill University in Montreal where she served on the faculty from 1990-96.  While there, she conducted several choral ensembles, including the McGill Choral Society Chamber Choir which recorded a CD on the Earthpeace label and won second prize in the Montreal Choral Competition. Ms. Alegant also conducts the Black River Singers, a mixed 20-person chorus from Oberlin, Avon Lake, Cleveland Heights and Shaker Heights which she founded in 1997. She is currently Assistant Director for Major Conservatory Gifts in the Development Office at Oberlin College.

John Roberts, Western Reserve Chorale director, received degrees in music from Ohio Wesleyan University and Ohio State University, with further study at Oberlin College and Eastern Michigan University. Mr. Roberts has conducted Handel's Messiah many times, notably in Augsberg and Munich, Germany.  He also stage managed for the Ohio Light Opera Company, taught for 30 years in Ohio schools; was adjunct Associate Professor on the faculty of Kent State University, and Director of Music at the First Presbyterian Church of Akron for many years. He is currently on the faculty of Mount Union College in Alliance, Ohio.

Angela Gwinn, soprano,  received her Bachelor of Music from Northwestern University, and a Master of Music from the Julliard School while on full scholarship as a member of the American Opera Center.   She furthered her musical education with masterclass performances with Luciano Pavarotti, Leontyne Price, Licia Albanese, Martin Katz and Beverly Sills.

Among her numerous awards are the Richard Tucker Foundation's Robert Jacobson Grant, three Metropolitan Opera study grants, the Leona Gordon Lowin Memorial and the Sigma Alpha Iota Awards from the San Francisco  Opera, Winner's Concert in the Pavorotti Voice Competition, and the R. F. Gold Award from the Shoshana Foundation. 

Giovanna Reyes-Mir, alto, is a student at the Cleveland Institute of Music. She recently made her debut with the Puerto Rico Symphonic Orchestra singing Vivaldi's Gloria. Ms. Reyes-Mir has performed many operatic roles including Laurette in Gianni Schicchi by Puccini, Miles in Turn of the Screw by Britten, Zerlina in  Don Giovanni, Vera Boronel in The Consul by Menotti, Girl in Trouble in Tahiti by Bernstein, Despina in Cosi Fan Tutte, Second Lady in The Magic Flute,  and Marta in Company  by Sondheim. She has won first prizes in the state and regional NATS competitions and will perform in CIM's upcoming production of Cosi Fan Tutte.

     Jaeyoon Kim, tenor, is a native of  Korea and is studying for his Artist Diploma degree at the Cleveland Institute of Music. He achieved his Master's degree at the College Conservatory of Music in Cincinnati. With CIM opera, he sang the roles of Rinuccio in the Gianni Schicchi, and Kaspar in the Amahl and the Night Visitors. Last summer, he sang with the Lyric Opera Cleveland 's Apprentice Program, and also performed the role of Ferrando in Cosi Fan Tutte at the Opera Theatre of Lucca, Italy, the previous summer.

      Michael McMurray, bass, a native of Mississippi, has made Cleveland his base for a busy career in classical music performance.  He was soloist for Apollo's Fire in their debut Mozart Requiem in 1992 and will repeat this acclaimed performance at Severance Hall this coming April. Other Severance Hall solo performances include Stravinsky's Oedipus Rex, Bach's St. Matthew's Passion and Handel's Messiah. His operatic credits include roles with Cleveland Opera, Opera Theatre of St. Louis, Opera Toledo, Lyric Opera of Cleveland, Opera Theater of New Mexico and Cleveland Opera Circle. An especially cherished appearance was his role as "Death" in the award-winning Cleveland Public Theater production of Vikto Ullman's rarely-mounted opera, Der Kaiser von Atlantis, which was written in Theresienstadt concentration camp.