A Proposal for an Exhibition Using Rare and Unique Historical Musical Instruments of the Time of Mozart
Concert Series and Courses on these Very Instruments
A Proposal for an Exhibition Using Rare and Unique Historical Musical Instruments of the Time of Mozart1/1
Part I
Two Exhibitions of the Collection, with special emphasis on the Instruments of the Habsburg Empire before and during Mozart’s lifetime
Augsburg (Florentiner Säulenhalle) and Salzburg (Barockmuseum)
Part II
Two Courses on Performance Practice of Historically Orientated Early Music
Augsburg and Salzburg (or Vienna)
Learning Programmes, geared to bring the cultural heritage of these instruments to professional musicians, conservatory students and the general public in order to better understand Mozart’s work and the Classical Heritage.
Part III
Two Series of Concerts with a pronounced didactic or illustrative nature, shedding light on the roots, the development and the heritage of Mozart’s compositional genius.
Four concerts in Salzburg and four concerts in Augsburg
Part I: THE EXHIBITION
Mozart was born and raised in a musical world defined principally by the sound of string instruments. His father, a violinist of international repute, was also his first teacher. String quartet, trio, and orchestra were dominated by this sound. The Vazquez Collection contains a thorough and complete representation of the Art of Instrument-making in the Habsburg Empire, from Vienna to Salzburg to Tyrol to Prague, and all of the Schools of Bavaria! The most prominent violin-making dynasties are well represented therein:
Tyrol: Jakob Stainer (Mozart’s father played on a Stainer violin!), Albanus, Jais Vienna: Posch, Thir, Leidolff, Stadlmann, Dallinger, Partl, Fichtl, Horil, Partl
Salzburg: Johann Schorn, Johann Seeloss
Prague: Eberle, Hulinsky, Hellmer, J. Koldiz, Laske, Hentschl,
Bavaria: Kloz, Widhalm, Maussiell, Gedler, Kämbl, M. A. Koldiz, Alletsee, Hoffmann
Please note that these instruments have been restored to the measurements of the Baroque and the Classical Periods so that the sound they produce, particularly if strung with plain gut strings played with the historically appropriate bows, would closely resemble the sounds that Mozart cherished. Working with these instruments yields insights into the aesthetics of the music of the Classical Period and induce the musician to perform very differently!
OurPrevious Experience:
It is important to note that Orpheon has been presenting exhibitions since 1993: the experience gathered – in conjunction with adequate funding - will help us to significantly improve and consolidate the presentation. The most recent series, which began in May of 2004, have been thoroughly documented in press and television.Three short films and two somewhat longer ones (22-24 minutes) document the work of the collection and form an integral part of this request for funding. We highly recommend that these films be seen, so that the project may better be judged. The following website page contains a complete documentation about the exhibitions (also accessible via ):
II. PEDAGOGICAL PROGRAMMES
The goal of these initiatives is to employ these instruments, properly restored to the original playing conditions, to learn how this changes our perspective in interpreting the music of Mozart and the Classical Age, thus enabling the musician to better understand the intentions of the composer.
It should be notedthat no other collection in the world can offer this unique opportunity to the professional musician, the conservatory student or even the interested amateur player. The collection has been in the service of learning at the University of Vienna since 1982.
Task 1. Guided and Commented Visits
Custom tailored to school classes, conservatory pupils and university students, as well as for professional musicians. There would be opportunities for trying out the instruments under the guidance of our staff.
Task 2. School Programme
Musicians of the Orpheon Consort take a number of these instruments directly to the schools, present a demonstration and a brief concert. Special instruments would be available for the pupils or students to experiment with.
Task 3. Seminars, Workshops
For professional orchestras: two pilot projects, which took place in 2005 and 2006, have already proven the efficacy of this type of learning experience. The Kurpfälzisches Kammerorchester on the one hand, and the Orchestra of the National Theater, Mannheim have each organised two-week workshops with the professional musicians in order to prepare concerts on the instruments of the collection. The Orchestra of the National Theater would, in fact, like to continue this next year! The results have been very convincing, so we would like to offer this type of workshop to other professional orchestras and conservatories all over Europe.
The teachers of these courses will be recruited from all over Europe!
Task 4. Instrument-building workshop
The teachers of the Instrument-Building School of Hallstatt will organise workshops during which a participant can build a string instrument.
Participating in the exhibition will be the teachers and students of the Instrument Building School of Hallstatt. They have been entrusted with the creation of an installation about violin-making in the days of Mozart, which will include a short documentary film on the making of a violin. On the weekends two of the students will set up their workshop in the halls of the exhibition and work on their instruments during the opening hours.
Task 5. Multi-media installations and interactive presentations
The reason for designing and employing these devices at the exhibitions is our belief that the younger generation needs to be drawn to these historical instruments and their cultural heritage with new and innovative ways. Marius Schebella, who was employed for many years in the Haus der Musik, Vienna, has been assigned the task of inventing and building these installations. Please consult the separate document! Orpheon Interactive
III. THE CONCERT SERIES
This series of concerts is designed to shed light on Mozart’s Art of Composition by presenting the following four categories. We have expressly carefully avoided what has been sufficiently done this year – performing Mozart, but have chosen instead to investigate and present the world of sound which formed Mozart, the world of sound he lived in and the world of sound he formed and left for posterity.
1. The predecessors of Mozart
and what influence they exerted on the young Mozart (for example: Salzburg before Mozart!)
2. The teachers of Mozart
Composers who taught him directly, like his father, or whose works Mozart admired, studied and copied. Among these: Johann Christian Bach, Johann Sebastian Bach, Carl Friedrich Abel, Joseph Haydn, Porpora, Fux, etc.
3. Mozart himself
But in direct comparison to his contemporaries from Mannheim, from Berlin, from Italy.
4. Mozart’s Heritage
His students, his son, his successors
The musicians which will perform in these concerts come from the following countries: A, B, Bulgraria, CH, CZ, D, E, F, Ireland, UK, HU, L, PL, Canada, USA, Columbia, Cuba. They have all taken advantage of the unique opportunity to work and learn with the instruments of the collection and are thus in a position to share this experience with the general public. (On our website, many of these musicians have been portrayed alongside the instruments from the collection which they have been given for long-term use.)
Our Principal Task: the Long Term Project
The European Commission wishes to know, if the results of this project will lead to further interaction within the Community. It is therefore very important to note that at this very moment, Orpheon is in the process of establishing two centers for Early Music, one in conjunction with the Fondation Calvet of Avignon, France, the other at the invitation of His Serene Highness, the Prince Carlo Alessandro di Torre e Tasso in his Castello di Duino (Trieste), Italy. Parts of the Orpheon collection will be on permanent display in these two locations. There will be a permanent seat for the musical and pedagogical activities of Orpheon in both places, including concert series, workshops and seminars and a school programme.
Continuity of our Efforts
In addition, Orpheon has already been presenting on a yearly basis workshops in Jindrichuv Hradec, Czech Republic (sixth year), in Thoiry, France (sixth year), in Ibiza, Spain (third year), and in Cossington, Great Britain (second year) based on these very same principles.
A grant from the European Community * would enable us to improve our offerings and go much further, in order to provide
A past for our future, a future for our past…
Prof. José Vázquez
Orpheon Asociation
University for Music Vienna
*A personal note:
This is the first time we apply for sponsorship from a public entity. For the last 25 years the work of gathering, insuring, restoring and maintaining the collection has been financed solely by us. From 1982, when I assumed my position at the Vienna University, until 2002 the instruments of my collection were placed at the disposal of the students of the University completely free of charge. Due to regrettable developments at the ministerial level, my position as professor for viola da gamba was abolished. The costs of insuring and maintaining the collection cannot be covered by my present salaries alone. And this I mention in earnest: the preservation of the collection as it is today and the meaningful work it has been realising for the past 25 years are in danger of ceasing to exist, because the financial means I previously commanded are no longer at my disposal. But I plead not for your assistance because of the momentary pecuniary vicissitudes, rather because that which we have to offer is unquestionably a project of great merit, which, if allowed, will bear fruits for yet many years to come. It would be a great pity to have to set it aside now, after more than two decades of service to the community.
José Vázquez
University for Music and the Performing Arts Vienna
Appendix:
1. Inventory of the collection
2. Guide of the exhibition realised up to now
3. Letters of recommendation
Kenneth Slowik, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.
Joseph Peknik, Metropolitan Museum, New York
Timothy Ingles, director of the Musical Instruments Department, Sotheby’s London (Auction House)
Jean-Michel Mercurol, chief editor, France 2 Television, Paris, France
His Serene Highness, The Prince Carlo Alessandro di Torre e Tasso,
Duino, Italy
Ramón Taboada, Consell Insular d’Eivissa (Spain)
Claudine Salomon-Moutot, director of the festival “LesFestes de Thalie”, Thoiry, France
John Pringle, viola da gamba maker and scholar, formerly Oxford, UK, now in USA
Personal letters of recommendation:
Florian Heyerick, Extempore Gent, Belgium
Günter Jena, former director of St. Michaelis Choir Hamburg
Riccardo Chailly, director of the Concertgebouw Orchestra, Amsterdam
Franz Welser-Most, director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Curriculum José Vázquez
José Vázquez was born in La Habana, Cuba, a city founded around 1500 in the reign of Charles V by Spanish colonists which soon became the gateway to the New World. He lived next to the then rabble-rouser student, Fidel Castro, with whose son he often visited the zoo, thus knew what to expect: so after the delusion of the Revolution, José left his native land with his family for North America in 1961, where he spent the ensuing 13 years of his life. He studied at Northwestern University (Chicago) and performed in the Collegium Musicum of the University of Chicago under the direction of Howard Meyer Brown for four years before undertaking professional studies of the viola da gamba with Hannelore Müller and baroque violin with Jaap Schroeder at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis in Switzerland. In 1980 he was appointed to the Conservatory of Music in Winterthur, Switzerland, where he teaches performance practice, viola da gamba and baroque violin. In 1982 he was appointed professor for viola da gamba at the University of Music in Vienna, Austria. Concerts as soloist (viola da gamba concerti, passions) with various European orchestras, including the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, Zürich Opera Orchestra, Salzburg Chamber Orchestra, The Smithsonian Chamber Players under directors like, Riccardo Chailly, Florian Heyerick, Günter Jena, Helmut Rilling, Franz Welser-Möst. Recordings with diverse ensembles (Ex Tempore, Belgium; Hans-Martin Linde, Switzerland; Musica Antiqua Köln, Germany...). Founder and director of the Orpheon Baroque Orchestra and Orpheon Consort, with which numerous recordings have been made.
Orpheon is an ensemble specialized in the performance of the music of the Renaissance and the Baroque respecting the aesthetics of the diverse styles which these periods encompass. The members are drawn from a number of European countries, ranging from Germany to Spain, from France to Hungary. The ensemble employs instruments of the private collection of its director, Prof. José Vázquez, of the University for Music and the Performing Arts Vienna, which comprises over 120 choice string instruments - violins, violas, violoncellos and violas da gamba - from the 16th, 17th and 18th Centuries, all in original condition or faithfully restored to the original measurements of the Renaissance and the Baroque. This collection of fine old instruments, which can presently be visited in Vienna, often travels abroad, being presented as an exhibition, which accompanies the concerts of Orpheon. A permanent museum will house the collection. The Orpheon Foundation will oversee the functioning of the museum and its institute for performance practice.
Venerable Ambassadors from a distant past
It is a very beautiful and unique - perhaps even miraculous - process, which this collection preserves for mankind.
The violin maker of former times invested all of his knowledge, his skill, but also all of his love to produce an object of consummate beauty whose sole purpose, however, is to produce an incomparably beautiful musical sound. The composer of his time was doubtless inspired precisely by the marvelous sounds issuing from these finely crafted instruments to create compositional masterpieces of profound emotional expression.
The professional musician and the student of today, if given the chance to work with such a fine instrument, learn from this instrument about the aesthetics of the period in light of which the poetic masterpieces of those composers should be interpreted. This musician, now acquainted with the instrument and its music, is thus in a position to present to the public of our day those exquisite compositions, performed on the very same instrument that a fine craftman had created on his workbench three, even four hundred years ago!
The maker, the composer have long perished, but their legacy lives on to this very day and enriches our lives today as they enriched the lives of many for hunderds of years and will continue to enrich many generations yet to come. It is simply a miraculous process that never wants to stop: it is a vital, a living tradition! Orpheon feels strongly that it is its solemn mission to share this living heritage with our community, to continue this tradition. The reception and the impact of these exhibitions in the past prove that the general public understands and appreciates this message.
A Proposal for an Exhibition Using Rare and Unique Historical Musical Instruments of the Time of Mozart1/1