Book contents
- Music and the Benefit Performance in Eighteenth-Century Britain
- Music and the Benefit Performance in Eighteenth-Century Britain
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Music Examples
- Notes on Contributors
- Acknowledgements
- Abbreviations
- Introduction
- Part I Musical Benefits in the London Theatre: Networks and Repertories
- Part II Beyond London: Mimicry or Originality?
- Part III Benefits and Public Image
- Part IV Charity Benefits
- Part V The Role of the Audience
- 11 Encountering ‘The Most Extraordinary Prodigy’: Meeting Master Mozart in Georgian London
- 12 Benefits: cui bono?
- Select Bibliography
- Index of Musical Works
- General Index
11 - Encountering ‘The Most Extraordinary Prodigy’: Meeting Master Mozart in Georgian London
from Part V - The Role of the Audience
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 30 October 2019
- Music and the Benefit Performance in Eighteenth-Century Britain
- Music and the Benefit Performance in Eighteenth-Century Britain
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Music Examples
- Notes on Contributors
- Acknowledgements
- Abbreviations
- Introduction
- Part I Musical Benefits in the London Theatre: Networks and Repertories
- Part II Beyond London: Mimicry or Originality?
- Part III Benefits and Public Image
- Part IV Charity Benefits
- Part V The Role of the Audience
- 11 Encountering ‘The Most Extraordinary Prodigy’: Meeting Master Mozart in Georgian London
- 12 Benefits: cui bono?
- Select Bibliography
- Index of Musical Works
- General Index
Summary
The known benefit concerts in which Mozart was involved will be the main focus of this chapter. In such settings, the focus was on the extraordinary gifts of the young composer–performer, as is plain from prior advertisements in the London press. These concerts will be contextualized in various ways, including private concerts for the Royal family and aristocrats; ‘society’ concerts (principally those of Mrs Cornelys); the Bach–Abel concerts; ‘exhibition’ concerts at which Mozart’s precocious talent was displayed; close analysis of the press advertisements through the lenses of ethics and anthropology; a necessarily speculative discussion of the new compositions (including symphonies) that Mozart may have performed at the benefit concerts; concert representation as a barometer of Mozart’s developing compositional style, including an examination of the sonatas K10–15 in the light of domestic music making; and especially the ‘London Notebook”, K15a–ss, a remarkable testament of his development at the age of eight or nine.
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- Music and the Benefit Performance in Eighteenth-Century Britain , pp. 223 - 241Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2019