A special highlight awaits you shortly before Christmas! The Mannheim Philharmonic Orchestra is very pleased to welcome Martha Argerich, an absolutely exceptional artist, to the Mannheim Rose Garden after she was unable to attend the 2022 concert due to illness.
The legendary pianist is one of the most important musical personalities of our time and will be heard as a soloist in Beethoven's 2nd Piano Concerto in B major, op. 19.
The young Beethoven wrote this work when he still had the prospect of a brilliant career as a piano virtuoso, which was ultimately prevented by the impairment of his hearing. In fact, this work is Beethoven's first piano concerto. But the composer wasn't really satisfied with the first work and revised it several times. Eventually the work was overtaken by the more frequently performed second concerto. To this day it leads a rather shadowy existence among the five contributions that Beethoven wrote for the piano concerto.
In contrast, Mozart's Symphony No. 40 in G minor is one of the composer's most popular and frequently performed works. During the time it was being written, Mozart reported in a letter about “black thoughts” that tormented him. Despite the minor key, they barely shine through in this concerto. Instead, with this symphony, Mozart created a perfect composition full of elegance and grace, whose opening theme is perhaps one of the world's best-known melodies.
The evening opens with the rarely heard overture to Rossini's opera Il signor Bruschino, whose unconventional and surprising use of the violin at the premiere caused a scandal. This rhythmic interjection, in which the second violins tap their bows against their music stands, is an example of the musical wit that permeates the opera and was so unique to Rossini.