Les Boréades de Montréal, the ensemble on this recording, specializes in baroque repertoire and performs on period instruments, adhering to historical performance practices.
Composer's Artistic Vision
The 72-year-old composer Hasse reportedly said of the 15-year-old Mozart, after hearing his Ascanio in Alba, K. 111, 'This boy will make us all forgotten'.
Composition History
Mozart's first dramatic work, Die Schuldigkeit des ersten Gebots, K. 35, was composed at age 11 after the Archbishop Prince Sigismund von Schrattenbach tested his ability to set a text to music.
Critical Reception
At the premiere of Mozart's opera Mitridate, rè di Ponto, K. 87, an aria was encored, and almost all arias received surprising applause and cries of 'Viva il Maestro! Viva il Maestrino!' which was unusual for Milan.
Composer Biography
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and his sister Nannerl, both musically gifted, were taken on a three-and-a-half-year tour of northern Europe by their father Leopold, starting when Wolfgang was six.
Performer Biography
Marie-Eve Munger, the soprano on this album, has performed at prestigious venues worldwide, including La Scala, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, and the BBC Proms.
Compositional Technique
In Lucio Silla, K. 135, Mozart, at age 16, broke traditional operatic codes by moving beyond da capo arias and enriching his orchestrations, showing an early embrace of operatic reform.
