Symphony San Jose presents MERRY MOZART December 5 and 6

About this event

Symphony San Jose with conductor Nathan Aspinall present “Merry Mozart” December 5 and 6 as three legendary composers reveal their most poetic and expressive selves in a journey of timeless beauty and radiant harmony.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Symphony No. 39 is a work of noble warmth and exuberant invention. (It is one of the last three symphonies he composed during a remarkably brief period in the summer of 1788.) Majestic yet playful, the symphony balances ceremonial grandeur with lyric elegance, offering music that sparkles with clarity, wit, and humanity.

Ottorino Respighi’s Trittico Botticelliano brings three Renaissance paintings to vivid musical life. Inspired by Botticelli’s La Primavera, The Adoration of the Magi, and The Birth of Venus, Respighi’s orchestration shimmers with color and imagination, transforming visual beauty into sound that is refined, atmospheric, and richly evocative.

Written as a birthday gift for his wife and first performed on Christmas morning, Richard Wagner’s Siegfried Idyll is a rare glimpse of the gentler side of the composer. Filled with tenderness and intimacy, the work is an idyllic unfolding of glowing harmonies, pastoral, calm, and deeply personal affection.

Symphony San Jose will present this program on the 235th Anniversary of Mozart’s death.

THE PROGRAM:

Richard Wagner: Siegfried Idyll

Ottorino Respighi: Trittico Botticelliano

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Symphony No. 39 in E-flat major (Completed June 26, 1788.)

THE ARTISTS

Conductor: Nathan Aspinall

Symphony San Jose

www.symphonysanjose.org/

SINGLE TICKET PRICES: $35 to $125. (Price includes all City and handling fees.)

TICKETS: Phone: 408.286.2600

Website: www.symphonysanjose.org

Email: tickets@symphonysanjose.org

SPECIAL DISCOUNTED YOUTH TICKETS: Adult patrons may purchase single tickets for accompanying guests 17 years of age or younger at half price. Contact the Ticket Office for more information.

AN ADDED ATTRACTION: Music Notes occur one-hour prior to the concert in the main auditorium and includes an informative discussion, fun facts, insights, and interviews with featured guests. It is free of charge to concert ticket holders and designed to deepen the audience’s appreciation of the music to be featured during the performance.

SHORT BIO: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Born: January 27, 1756 – Died: December 5, 1791) NOTE: Symphony San Jose will present this program on the 235th Anniversary of Mozart’s death.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was an Austrian child prodigy, prolific creator, and a master of the Viennese Classical school. He composed over 600 works spanning symphonies, operas, and chamber music before dying at the early age of 35.

Born in Salzburg, Austria to court musician Leopold Mozart, the young Wolfgang learned to play keyboard by age 4 and composed his first pieces by age 5. As a child sensation he toured European royal courts with his older sister, Nannerl. He created legendary operas including The Marriage of Figaro (1786), Don Giovanni (1787), and The Magic Flute (1791).

Mozart spent the last ten years of his life living in Vienna with his wife Constanze Weber and his two surviving children (out of six). Mozart died in his home on December 5, 1791 during a fever-induced illness while drafting his unfinished Requiem. The circumstances of his death have attracted much research and speculation.

MOZART POSTHUMOUS PORTRAIT: This painting remains the most recognizable and widely reproduced depiction of the iconic classical composer. This portrait of Mozart was completed in 1819 by the Austrian artist Barbara Krafft. The artwork was painted 28 years after Mozart's death in 1791. To ensure it looked like Mozart, Krafft based her work on historical descriptions and specific family portraits lent to her by Mozart's sister, Maria Anna ("Nannerl").