MOZART IN ITALY
MIKE WHEELER, in the first of several visits to this year's Buxton Festival, listens to a discussion between Jane Glover and Leah Broad
The first full day of the 2024 Buxton Festival kicked off with a book event, in which conductor and scholar Jane Glover discussed her recent Mozart in Italy - Coming of age in the land of opera with interviewer Leah Broad, author of Quartet - How four women changed the musical world - Pavilion Arts Centre, Buxton, UK, 5 July 2024.
Having conducted Mozart throughout her career, not least during her time as Music Director of the London Mozart Players, from 1984 to 1991, Glover called the composer 'a constant in my life'. Her book, the idea for which, she said, kept 'niggling at the back of my mind', examines the three trips to Italy he undertook with his father, Leopold, during the impressionable years between ages ten and sixteen.
'Mozart in Italy' by Jane Glover
His home city, Salzburg, though very powerful, was provincial, and did not have an opera house, whereas Italy was 'the musical centre of the world'. At fourteen, he was commissioned to write Mitridate, Re di Ponto for Milan, where opera-going was a way of life, and 'he sort of discovered how to do it', through workshop-like ways of working. In particular, he made a point of composing arias to fit specific singers, tailoring them to their voices almost literally.
Inevitably, the interview considered Leopold's role in all this. The relationship between him and Wolfgang was 'very, very complicated'. The journeys showed Leopold at both his best and his worst, a brilliant organiser, but also possessive and obsessional, treating Wolfgang like a child. Glover contrasted his grumpy disposition with Wolfgang's sunny 'essential optimism'. Travelling conditions were often poor, both the coaches and the accomodation, along with the regular need to change horses. On one occasion, Leopold was injured in coach accident. But the trips became 'the best times between them'; Glover compared them to 'two lads on tour'. Wolfgang was able to hear operas by his contemporaries, such as Piccinni and Jomelli, and was elected a member of the Accademia Filarmonica in Bologna. On the other hand, the prospect of a job with the court of Archduke Ferdinand of Milan was sabotaged by a letter from Ferdinand's mother, Empress Maria Theresa, advising him not to burden himself with 'useless people'.
Matters raised by questions from the audience included the practicalities of touring, in particular the matter of including manuscript paper, ink, pens and sand (for blotting) in the luggage. Asked about her favourite Mozart works to conduct, Glover singled out the piano concertos as 'perfect', also Don Giovanni and Così fan tutte, on both musical and psychological levels. Was Mozart, between eleven and fourteen years old, in an adult's world or a child's? one questioner asked. Glover commented that he had been 'starved' of company with anyone his own age, which brought mention of his friendship with the English composer Thomas Linley junior, whom he met in Florence. On the question of money, Glover observed that Leopold often did not work for money, but was rewarded with gifts instead, and he never taught Wolfgang to be good with money.
Jane Glover. Photo © John Batten
Mozart in Italy is, Glover said, her love-letter to Italy as well as to Mozart's music, and she described setting out with a friend to follow Leopold and Wolfgang's itinerary. Writing the book gave her context for the music, and she came to regard Wolfgang 'rather maternally', aware of her 'huge sense of responsibility' towards the composer. With Leah Broad's sympathetic interviewing, what emerged above all was Glover's unquenchable enthusiasm for her subject.
Copyright © 11 July 2024
Mike Wheeler,
Derby UK