The use of cameras or recording equipment during the 

performance is not allowed. Please be sure that cell phones,

pagers, and other electronic devices are turned off.

Please note that late entry or reentry ofthe 

West Building after 6:30 pm is not permitted.

For the convenience of concertgoers, 

the Garden Cafe remains open for light refreshments

until 6:00 pm on Sundays.

Music Department

National Gallery of Art

Sixth Street and Constitution Avenue nw

Washington, DC

www.nga.gov

Concerts are made possible in part through the generosity of donors

to the National Gallery ofArt through The Circle. Reserved seating is

available in recognition oftheir support. Please contact the development

office at (202) 842-6450 or circle(a) nga.gov for more information.

The Seventy-first Season of

The William Nelson Cromwell and F. Lammot Belin

Concerts

National Gallery ofArt

2,944th Concert

National Gallery ofArt Orchestra

Paul Badura-Skoda, pianist and conductor

May 5, 2013

Sunday, 6:30 pm

West Building, West Garden Court

Admissionfree
Program

Music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)

Piano Concerto no. 12 in A Major, K. 414 (1782)

Allegro

Andante

Allegretto

Sonata in C Minor, K. 457 (1784)

Molto allegro

Adagio 

Allegro assai

Piano Concerto in E-flat Major, K. 271 (“Jeunehomme”) (1777)

Allegro 

Andantino

Rondo: Presto

This concert is the fifth in a series of chamber music concerts

made possible by support from the Gottesman Fund in memory

of Milton M. Gottesman.

This concert is also presented in collaboration with the

Delegation ofthe European Union to the United States.

The Musician

PAUL BADURA-SKODA

Born in 1927 in Vienna, Paul Badura-Skoda received his primary training

from pianists Viola Them and Otto Schulhof, with additional study under

Edwin Fischer in Switzerland. In 1948 Badura-Skoda graduated from the

Conservatory ofthe City ofVienna with the highest distinctions in both piano

and conducting. Before a year had passed, both Wilhelm Furtwangler and

Herbert von Karajan had engaged the still-unknown young pianist as soloist

for their concerts in Vienna. In 1950 he substituted for the ailing Edwin Fischer 

at the Salzburg Festival on short notice, immediately becoming an international

celebrity. Yet perhaps his longest-lasting success was due to his early recordings, which brought him worldwide recognition. By the time he played his

first recital in New York in 1950, he was drawing standing-room-only crowds

ofmusic lovers who had heard his recordings and were eager to hear him in

person. At the same time, his career as a conductor was growing. In 1956 he

conducted the Vienna Symphony Orchestra’s chamber ensemble in a successful tour through Italy, followed by concerts and recordings in Vienna.

Badura-Skoda undertook his first tour ofJapan in 1959 and his first tour

ofthe Soviet Union in 1964. The first Western pianist to perform in China

after the end ofthe Cultural Revolution, he has also played in Egypt, Kenya,

South Africa, and Tanzania. He was a prime celebrant ofthe Beethoven

bicentennial year in 1970 —performing all ofthe composer’s thirty-two

sonatas in Berlin, Chicago, London, Paris, Vienna, and many other cultural

capitals. In 1991, to mark the 200th anniversary of Mozart’s death, BaduraSkoda played 140 all-Mozart concerts throughout the world, including a

recital at the National Gallery of Art.

The only pianist to have recorded the complete sonatas of Beethoven,

Mozart, and Schubert on both modem as well as period pianos, Badura-Skoda 

has authored numerous articles that reflect his search for truth in music and

life and his endeavor to understand the composer’s intentions and to correct

widespread errors in performance and musical publications. He particularly

enjoys conducting youth orchestras, inspiring them through their love of

music to help create a better world.

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NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART ORCHESTRA

Founded in 1943, the National Gallery ofArt Orchestra initially consisted

of approximately twenty-five players drawn from the National Symphony 

Orchestra. Gradually growing in numbers, the Gallery orchestra eventually

reached the size and status of a large chamber orchestra. The ensemble has

undertaken the full range of chamber and symphonic repertoire and has

frequendy presented first performances ofworks by American composers, 

most notably the 1953 premiere ofCharles Ives’ Symphony no. 1 under the 

direction of Richard Bales; the 1990 premiere of Daniel Pinkham’s Symphony no. 4 under George Manos; and the 2007 premiere ofJohn Musto’s Later

the Same Evening: An opera inspired byJive paintings ofEdward Hopper, under

guest conductor Glen Cortese. Other guest conductors who have appeared

with the orchestra in recent years include Bjarte Engeset, Philippe Entremont, 

Vladimir Lande, George Mester, Otto-Werner Mueller, and Jose Serebrier.

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Program Notes

Tonight’s concert continues a groundbreaking series generated by the Delegation ofthe European Union to the United States in collaboration with the 

National Gallery of Art and the Katzen Arts Center at American University,

the Kennedy Center, and the Phillips Collection. Dubbing the month of May

as “The European Month ofCulture,” the Delegation will present twentynine concerts in the above-mentioned venues that represent all twenty-seven

countries in the European Union. With its Austrian guest conductor and

all-Mozart program, this concert represents Austria, a charter member of

the European Union. The next concert ofthe series also takes place at the

Gallery: representing the Federal Republic of Germany, Capella de la Torre

will present a program ofRenaissance music in honor ofthe exhibition 

Albrecht DiXrer, Master Drawings, Watercolors, and Printsfrom the Albertina.

Performances take place tomorrow, May 6, at 12, 2, and 4 pm on the East

Building Mezzanine.

The A-major Piano Concerto, K. 414, was the second ofthree concertos 

that Mozart wrote in close succession in late 1782. By that time, he had left

provincial Salzburg for good and moved to Vienna to seek his fortune as

a composer, with no official post. Mozart attempted to publish the three

concertos as a subscription, even advertising that they were “suitable to be

performed at home.” Perhaps this was simply a marketing tool, but he did

score them for “quattro,” meaning piano and string quartet, in addition to

the larger orchestral version. It seemed that not many people were interested in purchasing the concertos as a subscription, though they were very

interested in seeing him perform them. Mozart eventually got a Viennese 

publisher (Artaria) to issue them in 1785. These would be the only three

concertos Mozart published during his lifetime, but between 1785 and 1790

he achieved fame and considerable affluence in Vienna by producing and

performing his own concertos.

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Anticipating that other pianists would perform this work, Mozart wrote

out two sets of cadenzas for each occurrence, for a total of eight. For Mozart,

the key ofA major was usually one oflyricism and serenity, and this concerto

is a prime example. The first movement begins quietly, and is full oflovely

melodies. The D minor Andante, based on a theme by Johann Christian Bach,

is moving and mournful, but with little turmoil. The final rondo brings back

the sunny outlook ofthe concerto, with an infectiously playful spirit.

The Piano Sonata in C Minor, K. 457, was composed after Mozart had

been in Vienna for three successful years. He had become a favorite ofthe

nobility and bourgoisie, students flocked to him, and his concerts drew large

crowds. The C-minor Piano Sonata was published along with the Fantasy in

C Minor, K. 475, which was written about seven months later, and bore a

dedication to Therese von Trattner, a student of Mozart. There has been

some speculation as to whether the two pieces were intended to be performed together, but Mozart was known to perform them separately. The

key ofC minor was a particularly personal one for Mozart, and called forth

some ofhis darkest and most turbulent music.

A stunning work, the C Minor Sonata has prompted some critics to call

it “Beethovenian.” It could be compared in many ways to Beethoven’s great

“Pathetique” sonata. The first movement begins dramatically, with an ascending

outline of a C minor chord, and continues in classic sonata form. The middle

movement, in the relative major, is a singing Adagio in rondo form. In the final 

movement the urgency returns, driving the sonata to an emphatic conclusion.

Mozart wrote his Piano Concerto in E-flat Majorin January 1777 in Salzburg 

for pianist Victoire Jenamy. Her surname was variously mentioned in correspondence at the time only as “Jenomy” or “Jename” or “Genomai”—and,

with little historical record ofher identity, this was later turned into a nickname for the concerto, “Jeunehomme.” Composed the month Mozart turned

twenty-one, it has been called his “musical coming of age.” It was his first

real masterpiece, and Mozart was fond ofthe piece, taking it on tour with

him in the fall of 1777, and continuing to perform it often into the 1780s.

Experimental and provocative for its day, this was perhaps the first work in

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which Mozart’s mature style began to emerge. Starting in the first movement,

Mozart breaks from traditional structure with a surprising interruption from

the piano before the orchestra has a chance to complete its opening statement. The Andantino is the first middle movement he composed in a minor

key, and is no less innovative than the first movement. After the emotionally

fraught and tragic slow movement, Mozart’s humor and wit return in full 

force, complete with increasingly florid and virtuosic writing for the pianist.

Program notes by Danielle DeSwert Hahn, music program specialist,

National Gallery ofArt

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