Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart / They’re Playing Our Song

On this day in classical music: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s “Piano Concerto No. 20 in D Minor, K. 466” was given its premiere in Vienna in 1785 with the composer as soloist. One of the most popular of Mozart’s 27 piano concertos, the D Minor became a favorite of the young Beethoven who kept it as part of his repertoire. Pianist and author Charles Rosen called it “as much a myth as a work of art: when listening to it … it is difficult at times to say whether we are hearing the work or its reputation.” Listen to Mitsuko Uchida perform the “Romanze” from Mozart’s “Piano Concerto No. 20 in D Minor.” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhNITXBguSs

On this day in the musical theatre: Marvin Hamlisch and Carole Bager Sayer’s “They’re Playing Our Song” opened on Broadway in 1979. Featuring a book by Neil Simon, the musical was based on the real-life relationship of Hamlisch and Sager, a wisecracking composer who finds a new, offbeat lyricist. The collaborators would undergo a series of trials and overcome a number of hurdles before finding true love by the final curtain. Listen to original cast members Robert Klein and Lucie Arnaz perform the title song on the 1979 Tony Awards broadcast. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3IKrYzbDdc 

Musical musings: A few days after the first performance of the Piano Concerto No. 20 in D Minor, Mozart’s father, Leopold, who was visiting Vienna, wrote to his daughter Nannerl about her brother’s recent success: “(I heard) an excellent new piano concerto by Wolfgang, on which the copyist was still at work when we got there, and your brother didn’t even have time to play through the rondo because he had to oversee the copying operation.”

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