There is nothing like the whispery voice of the glad armonica. This is a beautiful variation of the piece though and thank you for posting it. It is a more sober and earthbound sound. Beautiful.
Thanks yes the armonica is a unique sound and has a very ethereal quality to it. I find it works really well in slow movements, but the notes speak quite slowly so in faster parts the notes aren't always clear. Still, a fascinating instrument which sounds like nothing else! I also recorded some rarely heard Bach pieces on the same lute, which are on my channel.
@@Quatrapuntal The faster notes on the glass armonica have a scuffling quality that I think is something that becomes pretty to hear. I agree the sustained notes are better for the unique singing quality. I will go to listen to your other pieces. Thank you.
I've just listened to a Glass Armonica version of this piece but I really prefer it on the lute. It seems really suited to this instrument, and your playing of course!
Yes the armonica is a unique and fascinating sound but there is so much resonance and harmonics that it's difficult to hear the notes sometimes. Mozart also wrote a quintet for it, and in the fast part the notes don't really speak quickly enough on the armonica so it sounds quite unclear. Thomas Bloch seems to be the best armonica player who plays the clearest I have heard. Shame that Mozart didn't write any chamber or solo music for the lute, although the vast majority of music for it was written by people who played it for obvious reasons.
Beautiful playing, equally beautiful as it sounds on the Armonica. Yes, I agree the notes are much clear on the lute, but at the same time I feel this particular composition needs those overtones and resonance which makes it kinda melancholic and perfectly fits “Adagio”.
Yes the armonica has a unique ethereal sound which suits this piece well. Have you heard the other Mozart piece for it, the quintet? I find that it is much less successful in fast movements, as the notes speak too slowly so shorter notes don't ring out clearly enough, but definitely a fascinating instrument.
Thanks, it fits naturally on that instrument and I love Mozart - I wish there were more pieces that worked but everything for keyboard is far too busy in the bassline. I have also recorded Bach BWV998 which is rarely played on the lute, the videos are on this channel
Thanks, I wish there was more Mozart I could play as he's one of my favourite composers, but so little of it fits on the lute. This is one of the few exceptions and works nicely.
I am offering the tablature for this in return for a channel sub - just email me the address is on the 'about' section. It works on 11 or 13 course in d-minor tuning. It won't work if your instrument is in normal guitar tuning with extra bass strings though.
Thanks, there is an explanation and demonstration of it and a couple of other lutes here if you are interested: th-cam.com/video/r4FaF7eH8Tg/w-d-xo.html
Thanks, I wish there was something else by Mozart! Unfortunately all of his keyboard pieces are too complicated or the bass is too active to be playable on the lute. I am working on a Mozart duet with a very unusual instrument, the baryton, which will be on the German theorbo, a rare type of larger lute
@@Quatrapuntal I understand. Being familiar with Mozart’s keyboard works myself, I can imagine how they would be unplayable on the lute. I’m looking forward to your upcoming Mozart duet. I know the baryton from the Haydn trios, I think it will blend quite nicely with the theorbo.
I haven't tried it on the guitar, but it fits nicely on the d-minor lute tuning. With the lute you can play the bass on the low strings which makes it nice and resonant.
Dear Chris, Nice play and translation. Benjamin Franklin not only invented the Glass Harmonica, but also the lightning conductor. I have been told that the vibrations of the glass harmonica shorten the player's lifespan (?). Thus it became out of fashion. I have a CD with some glass harmonica recordings. YOU should find a glass harmonica player and then you should do a side by side recording of this lovely piece. Like a duett or canon. Thank you so much!
Danke schön! The armonica is also quiet so couldn't compete with other instruments (like the lute!) which is another reason it died out. I think it was a bit of a fashion for a while, then it went out of fashion and the novelty wore off. It is also closely associated with Marianne Kirchgessner (who Mozart wrote these pieces for), when she died in 1808 there wasn't anyone else who played it so well. Mozart's quintet is really pushing the possibilities of the instrument in the fast movement, and the sound 'speaks' too slowly really to hear the fast notes clearly. But the armonica sounds wonderful and completely unique in slower music. There is actually a duet for glass armonica and lute, by Naumann. I have the lute part somewhere.
A water-Colour of Mozart’s final address (‘die Kleine Kaiserhaus’ Nr 970 Rauchensteingasse, Wien) which Constanza Mozart, nearly 3-months pregnant and with a 6-year old boy in tow had to make arrangements on her own to move into in November 1790 when M. was in Frankfurt for the Coronation of Leopold II is preserv’d in an earlier sketch - the watercolur that is featur’d on this YT video is after the 1803 renovations to the facade and the addition of a central courtyard… The earlier watercolur shews the Kaiserhouse with the store on the ground floor & the entrance on the far right-hand side of the building with a niche-canopy & statue of the Virgin Mary crown’d by a wooden crucifix slightly to the right of center between the 3rd & 4th window on the 1st floor (US ‘second storey’) - M. occupied this 1st floor up with the rooms arrang’d locomotive fashion (back to front) using the first two windows on the left only … A few years later Mozart’s pupil-copyist Franz Xaver Suessmayr wrote that ‘in the winter it was cold & dark with few windows expos’d to any direct sunlight - and altogether gloomy’ - the two windows on the left on the 1st floor up hous’d Mozart’s study where a bed had been prepar’d when he fell ill on the night of 19 November 1791 - probably from another streptococcal infection which always brought on Rheumatic symptoms including high fever & renal failure characteris’d by Edema ‘with severe swelling of the hands & feet making it very painful to turn in bed…’ - three weeks later he was dead…
Thanks that's interesting - is there a link to the earlier sketch you mentioned? When I visited Vienna 5 years ago I went to the spot where Mozart is said to have died which is inside a shopping centre now, you can't get any sense of what the building was like in 1791 from how it is now. The Mozarthaus of course is the best preserved, although I wish they had some more artefacts that belonged to him, maybe very little survives.
You're a fine Lutenist. Do people say so often? I've watched your videos for some time now. I'd really love to play this. My first 13c should be arriving in 3 weeks.
Not so often, but thanks for that and for following the channel. I try to come up with things that are more unusual and off the beaten track, the point of the channel was for the original music which is still the main aim. The lute and other videos came about during lockdown last year as a way of growing the channel as it's very difficult with original music on TH-cam. I can send you the tab for this Mozart if you want as you're a subscriber - the contact is in the 'about' part. It only needs 11 courses. Good luck with the 13 course lute, training your thumb is probably the biggest challenge at first.
@@Quatrapuntal I'm happy to be a subscriber and I enjoy your music very much. In regards to Lute arrangements such as this - I find them so charming, and it seems to be "Lute" friendly in a sense. I hear so many arrangements for the Guitar - and many times I have felt that the music was not "Guitar" friendly. Perhaps this is what drew me away from the Guitar. Anyways, I hope your channel continues to grow and you have my support. I plan on spending much time with my Lute. I hope to add value to that community.
I like to hear the guitar playing guitar music, I find the transcriptions of lute music a bit lacking in resonance, especially Weiss etc. The 13-course lute is such a different sounding instrument you just can't reproduce that on 6 strings, no matter how well it's played. I know what you mean, I've seen some incredible guitar arrangements (e.g. Beethoven Moonlight 3rd movement, Berg sonata op.1) that are amazing achievements, but they are just about reproducing things that are natural and idiomatic on the piano but right on the edge of technical possibility on the guitar.
@@Quatrapuntal I myself have tried to make arrangements within my technical range work, but it has always felt difficult. Not long ago I arranged Holborne's Muy Linda for two Lutes - but played it on the Guitar. It was a bit more fluid, perhaps the Renaissance Lute is represented by the Guitar better than the Baroque Lute. What do you think?
Yes most historical lutes are double strung, except the highest pitched string, or in the case of the 18th century lute as played here, the top two strings. The lowest 7 pairs (or courses) of bass strings are tuned in octaves which gives it the very resonant sound in the bass. My mandora which is in many of my other videos is an exception to this as it is based on an early 19th century model, they stopped using double strings as with the guitar roughly around 1800
@@Quatrapuntal misunderstanding i think, yes i know about the courses as used on lutes and mandolin. my question is ..courses of three strings as in the 12 string mandolin..one course is high pitch, middle is a neutral pitch and the third string in the course is low pitch. i play mandolin, dulcimer 3, 4 and 6 string
No there are no triple courses, all double or the highest 2 single. The lowest 7 bass strings have a high and low octave in each pair, the others are unison pairs. If you are interested in mandolin-type instruments, have you seen the videos about the Portuguese guitar? It has a unique sound and playing technique: th-cam.com/video/sSRy6orRI98/w-d-xo.html There is also a video played on the Neapolitan mandolin: th-cam.com/video/vO6JINEdj1k/w-d-xo.html
There are quite a few simple minuets etc. but they aren't all that interesting, there aren't too many simpler pieces of this quality it's true. And certainly not ones which are playable on the lute. I also have a Mozart duet with a baryton and German theorbo (2 very rare instruments) on my channel which sounds quite different to the way it is usually heard.
I think this piece suits the armonica well, but Mozart's quintet with it is a bit more problematic. The notes speak slowly, which is fine with a slow movement but with lots of quick notes it turns into a bit of a blur with all the overtones as well.
There is nothing like the whispery voice of the glad armonica. This is a beautiful variation of the piece though and thank you for posting it. It is a more sober and earthbound sound. Beautiful.
Thanks yes the armonica is a unique sound and has a very ethereal quality to it. I find it works really well in slow movements, but the notes speak quite slowly so in faster parts the notes aren't always clear. Still, a fascinating instrument which sounds like nothing else! I also recorded some rarely heard Bach pieces on the same lute, which are on my channel.
@@Quatrapuntal The faster notes on the glass armonica have a scuffling quality that I think is something that becomes pretty to hear. I agree the sustained notes are better for the unique singing quality. I will go to listen to your other pieces. Thank you.
I've just listened to a Glass Armonica version of this piece but I really prefer it on the lute. It seems really suited to this instrument, and your playing of course!
Yes the armonica is a unique and fascinating sound but there is so much resonance and harmonics that it's difficult to hear the notes sometimes. Mozart also wrote a quintet for it, and in the fast part the notes don't really speak quickly enough on the armonica so it sounds quite unclear. Thomas Bloch seems to be the best armonica player who plays the clearest I have heard. Shame that Mozart didn't write any chamber or solo music for the lute, although the vast majority of music for it was written by people who played it for obvious reasons.
Beautiful playing, equally beautiful as it sounds on the Armonica. Yes, I agree the notes are much clear on the lute, but at the same time I feel this particular composition needs those overtones and resonance which makes it kinda melancholic and perfectly fits “Adagio”.
Yes the armonica has a unique ethereal sound which suits this piece well. Have you heard the other Mozart piece for it, the quintet? I find that it is much less successful in fast movements, as the notes speak too slowly so shorter notes don't ring out clearly enough, but definitely a fascinating instrument.
Really enjoy the informative interludes as well.
Fantastic! As is your playing on such fantastic instruments!
Thanks I appreciate that. Always a pleasure to play Mozart when possible.
Lovely arrangement of this Mozart adagio; seems to work very nicely on the baroque lute!
Thanks, yes it does fit surprisingly well with very minimal changes from the original, great to play some Mozart!
Brilliant! Majestic on the baroque lute!!
Thanks, it fits naturally on that instrument and I love Mozart - I wish there were more pieces that worked but everything for keyboard is far too busy in the bassline. I have also recorded Bach BWV998 which is rarely played on the lute, the videos are on this channel
Such a beautiful rendition/arrangement. Thank you for sharing this light with us ✨
Thanks, I wish there was more Mozart I could play as he's one of my favourite composers, but so little of it fits on the lute. This is one of the few exceptions and works nicely.
Excellent adaptation and performance. Compliments!
Thank you, it does fit surprisingly well. Also played with NO tempo altering rubato, as are my two Bach videos on this channel!
Wonderful. You play with such ease it inspires me to pull my baroque lute-guitar out of the case one more time.
I am offering the tablature for this in return for a channel sub - just email me the address is on the 'about' section. It works on 11 or 13 course in d-minor tuning. It won't work if your instrument is in normal guitar tuning with extra bass strings though.
Quatrapuntal yes it’s a guitar mad with 13 strings to be tuned as a baroque lute would be played. I think you saw it.
Beautiful! that looks like a fun instrument to play
Thanks, there is an explanation and demonstration of it and a couple of other lutes here if you are interested: th-cam.com/video/r4FaF7eH8Tg/w-d-xo.html
Beautiful piece!
Thanks, I will be releasing another piece of Mozart next weekend, playing with another very rare instrument.
Absolutely beautiful! Thank you.
Thanks, I'll send the tab asap - I need to write it out again as the original is a bit scruffy!
This sounds incredibly beautiful on the lute. More Mozart please
Thanks, I wish there was something else by Mozart! Unfortunately all of his keyboard pieces are too complicated or the bass is too active to be playable on the lute. I am working on a Mozart duet with a very unusual instrument, the baryton, which will be on the German theorbo, a rare type of larger lute
@@Quatrapuntal I understand. Being familiar with Mozart’s keyboard works myself, I can imagine how they would be unplayable on the lute. I’m looking forward to your upcoming Mozart duet. I know the baryton from the Haydn trios, I think it will blend quite nicely with the theorbo.
Hi you asked for more Mozart, here it is! th-cam.com/video/QjPXEABCg8k/w-d-xo.html
@@Quatrapuntal Awesome!
Siegfried Behrend did a fine transcription for the guitar of this work , published by Both & Bock, Berlin in 1958. It may still be available.
I haven't tried it on the guitar, but it fits nicely on the d-minor lute tuning. With the lute you can play the bass on the low strings which makes it nice and resonant.
*Suena tan bien.* 🤩
Muchas gracias, me alegra que te haya gustado
Dear Chris, Nice play and translation. Benjamin Franklin not only invented the Glass Harmonica, but also the lightning conductor. I have been told that the vibrations of the glass harmonica shorten the player's lifespan (?). Thus it became out of fashion. I have a CD with some glass harmonica recordings. YOU should find a glass harmonica player and then you should do a side by side recording of this lovely piece. Like a duett or canon.
Thank you so much!
Danke schön! The armonica is also quiet so couldn't compete with other instruments (like the lute!) which is another reason it died out. I think it was a bit of a fashion for a while, then it went out of fashion and the novelty wore off. It is also closely associated with Marianne Kirchgessner (who Mozart wrote these pieces for), when she died in 1808 there wasn't anyone else who played it so well. Mozart's quintet is really pushing the possibilities of the instrument in the fast movement, and the sound 'speaks' too slowly really to hear the fast notes clearly. But the armonica sounds wonderful and completely unique in slower music. There is actually a duet for glass armonica and lute, by Naumann. I have the lute part somewhere.
You are a gifted musician.
Thank you Lou, I appreciate that
A water-Colour of Mozart’s final address (‘die Kleine Kaiserhaus’ Nr 970 Rauchensteingasse, Wien) which Constanza Mozart, nearly 3-months pregnant and with a 6-year old boy in tow had to make arrangements on her own to move into in November 1790 when M. was in Frankfurt for the Coronation of Leopold II is preserv’d in an earlier sketch - the watercolur that is featur’d on this YT video is after the 1803 renovations to the facade and the addition of a central courtyard…
The earlier watercolur shews the Kaiserhouse with the store on the ground floor & the entrance on the far right-hand side of the building with a niche-canopy & statue of the Virgin Mary crown’d by a wooden crucifix slightly to the right of center between the 3rd & 4th window on the 1st floor (US ‘second storey’) - M. occupied this 1st floor up with the rooms arrang’d locomotive fashion (back to front) using the first two windows on the left only …
A few years later Mozart’s pupil-copyist Franz Xaver Suessmayr wrote that ‘in the winter it was cold & dark with few windows expos’d to any direct sunlight - and altogether gloomy’ - the two windows on the left on the 1st floor up hous’d Mozart’s study where a bed had been prepar’d when he fell ill on the night of 19 November 1791 - probably from another streptococcal infection which always brought on Rheumatic symptoms including high fever & renal failure characteris’d by Edema ‘with severe swelling of the hands & feet making it very painful to turn in bed…’ - three weeks later he was dead…
Thanks that's interesting - is there a link to the earlier sketch you mentioned? When I visited Vienna 5 years ago I went to the spot where Mozart is said to have died which is inside a shopping centre now, you can't get any sense of what the building was like in 1791 from how it is now. The Mozarthaus of course is the best preserved, although I wish they had some more artefacts that belonged to him, maybe very little survives.
It feels like I'm in a gondola in Venice, with Casanova by my side.
Vienna rather than Venice, but yes! Você é brasileiro (com um nome assim)?
You're a fine Lutenist. Do people say so often? I've watched your videos for some time now. I'd really love to play this. My first 13c should be arriving in 3 weeks.
Not so often, but thanks for that and for following the channel. I try to come up with things that are more unusual and off the beaten track, the point of the channel was for the original music which is still the main aim. The lute and other videos came about during lockdown last year as a way of growing the channel as it's very difficult with original music on TH-cam. I can send you the tab for this Mozart if you want as you're a subscriber - the contact is in the 'about' part. It only needs 11 courses. Good luck with the 13 course lute, training your thumb is probably the biggest challenge at first.
@@Quatrapuntal I'm happy to be a subscriber and I enjoy your music very much. In regards to Lute arrangements such as this - I find them so charming, and it seems to be "Lute" friendly in a sense. I hear so many arrangements for the Guitar - and many times I have felt that the music was not "Guitar" friendly. Perhaps this is what drew me away from the Guitar. Anyways, I hope your channel continues to grow and you have my support. I plan on spending much time with my Lute. I hope to add value to that community.
I like to hear the guitar playing guitar music, I find the transcriptions of lute music a bit lacking in resonance, especially Weiss etc. The 13-course lute is such a different sounding instrument you just can't reproduce that on 6 strings, no matter how well it's played. I know what you mean, I've seen some incredible guitar arrangements (e.g. Beethoven Moonlight 3rd movement, Berg sonata op.1) that are amazing achievements, but they are just about reproducing things that are natural and idiomatic on the piano but right on the edge of technical possibility on the guitar.
@@Quatrapuntal I myself have tried to make arrangements within my technical range work, but it has always felt difficult. Not long ago I arranged Holborne's Muy Linda for two Lutes - but played it on the Guitar. It was a bit more fluid, perhaps the Renaissance Lute is represented by the Guitar better than the Baroque Lute. What do you think?
is a lute configured in triple course or are all of them double course...such as a german mandriola?
Yes most historical lutes are double strung, except the highest pitched string, or in the case of the 18th century lute as played here, the top two strings. The lowest 7 pairs (or courses) of bass strings are tuned in octaves which gives it the very resonant sound in the bass. My mandora which is in many of my other videos is an exception to this as it is based on an early 19th century model, they stopped using double strings as with the guitar roughly around 1800
@@Quatrapuntal misunderstanding i think, yes i know about the courses as used on lutes and mandolin. my question is ..courses of three strings as in the 12 string mandolin..one course is high pitch, middle is a neutral pitch and the third string in the course is low pitch. i play mandolin, dulcimer 3, 4 and 6 string
No there are no triple courses, all double or the highest 2 single. The lowest 7 bass strings have a high and low octave in each pair, the others are unison pairs. If you are interested in mandolin-type instruments, have you seen the videos about the Portuguese guitar? It has a unique sound and playing technique: th-cam.com/video/sSRy6orRI98/w-d-xo.html
There is also a video played on the Neapolitan mandolin:
th-cam.com/video/vO6JINEdj1k/w-d-xo.html
May God protect you, musician magician. You address my feelings
Thank you, sir!
I wish mozart composed more simple works...
There are quite a few simple minuets etc. but they aren't all that interesting, there aren't too many simpler pieces of this quality it's true. And certainly not ones which are playable on the lute. I also have a Mozart duet with a baryton and German theorbo (2 very rare instruments) on my channel which sounds quite different to the way it is usually heard.
I must say I like it better on the lute. I find the glass harmonica a bit feeble.
I think this piece suits the armonica well, but Mozart's quintet with it is a bit more problematic. The notes speak slowly, which is fine with a slow movement but with lots of quick notes it turns into a bit of a blur with all the overtones as well.