Performers: Courtney Westcott, flute; Ingrid Matthews, violin; Shelley Taylor, cello; Byron Schenkman, harpsichord and fortepiano; Dana Maiben, viola
When Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart traveled to Mannheim in 1777, he was drawn to a city famous throughout Europe for its extraordinarily virtuosic orchestra. Such an orchestra cannot exist without players who are themselves exceptional musicians. As Charles Burney wrote in The Present State of Music in Germany, the Netherlands and United Provinces, published in London in 1775, "...indeed there are more solo players, and good composers in this, than perhaps any other orchestra in Europe." This recording places music that Mozart composed while visiting Mannheim in the context of works by some of his colleagues at the Mannheim court.
