Daniel E. Freeman: Mozart and Mysliveček | A Special Relationship

Srdečně vás zveme na přednášku dr. Daniela E. Freemana (Minnesotská univerzita) „Mozart and Mysliveček: A Special Relationship“.

Dr. Freeman je přední zahraniční odborník na Josefa Myslivečka, W. A. Mozarta a hudební kulturu českých zemí v osmnáctém století.

Přednáška se koná u příležitosti českého vydání monografie dr. Freemana o Josefu Myslivečkovi a premiéry filmu Petra Václava o skladatelově životě Il Boemo.

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Abstrakt přednášky:

The large number of composers with whom Wolfgang Mozart came into contact between the 1760s and 1790a were generally nothing more than casual acquaintances or rivals of varying degrees of hostility. In contrast, the Czech composer Josef Mysliveček was an intimate friend of both Wolfgang and his father Leopold for a long period in the 1770s, and he provided critical support for Wolfgang’s career goals. In letters to his father, Wolfgang expressed much greater personal affection for Mysliveček than for any other composer.

Wolfgang and Leopold Mozart first met Mysliveček in Bologna during the first of their three trips to Italy between 1770 and 1773 and quickly found themselves enchanted by Mysliveček’s irresistible charm and dynamism. Mysliveček became a role model for Wolfgang during his teens and early manhood, and this was probably not only due to his skills and accomplishments as a composer, but also his skills and accomplishments as a flatterer and seducer.

As satisfying as their friendship had become by the late 1770s, the Mozarts eventually were confronted with Mysliveček’s true identity as an ingratiating scoundrel. He was able to manipulate Leopold into securing payments for compositions sent to the archbishop of Salzburg with a promise to arrange an operatic commission for Wolfgang in Naples. Mysliveček claimed that he could easily make this possible, but he broke his word. Few people inside or outside the profession of music ever succeeded in bamboozling the shrewd Leopold Mozart, but Mysliveček did, and his betrayal led to the permanent cessation of contacts with the Mozart family in the spring of 1778. Nonetheless, Mozart continued to derive inspiration from Mysliveček’s music for years to come.