Mozart: Violin Sonatas - "Hélas, j'ai perdu mon amant!" Ulf Schneider & Stephan Imorde

• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791): Violin Sonata in D Major, K. 306:
• 1Violin Sonata in D Major, K. 306: I. Allegro con spirito07:27
• 2Violin Sonata in D Major, K. 306: II. Andante cantabile07:36
• 3Violin Sonata in D Major, K. 306: III. Allegretto07:00
• Violin Sonata in A Major, K. 402:
• 4Violin Sonata in A Major, K. 402: I. Andante, ma un poco adagio04:29
• 5Violin Sonata in A Major, K. 402: II. Fuga. Allegro moderato03:41
• Violin Sonata in F Major, K. 376:
• 6Violin Sonata in F Major, K. 376: I. Allegro con spirito04:54
• 7Violin Sonata in F Major, K. 376: II. Andante cantabile05:35
• 8Violin Sonata in F Major, K. 376: III. Rondeau06:02
• Six Variations on the Andantino, K. 360 "Hélas, j'ai perdu mon amant!":
• 9Six Variations on the Andantino, K. 360 "Hélas, j'ai perdu mon amant!"07:11
• Violin Sonata in B flat Major, K. 378:
• 10Violin Sonata in B flat Major, K. 378: I. Allegro moderato08:49
• 11Violin Sonata in B flat Major, K. 378: II. Andantino sostenuto e cantabile05:59
• 12Violin Sonata in B flat Major, K. 378: III. Rondeau. Allegro04:19
• Total Runtime01:13:02

Info for Mozart: Violin Sonatas - "Hélas, j'ai perdu mon amant!"

The works on this recording form the basis for a recital featuring readings of Constanze Mozart’s letters.

“For quite some time we had already wanted to associate text and music on the concert podium in order to place music in a new context. Our idea was to view Mozart from the perspective of his wife Constanze: in our attempt to picture how she must have perceived Wolfgang’s life, we embarked on an imaginary journey.

Very few letters written by Constanze have been preserved. Nevertheless, from the great number of letters her husband sent her, we can surmise that the two were emotionally very close. On the basis of those letters, music journalist Jürgen Otten has drawn up a fictitious diary. In our project we hold a musical dialogue with actress Fritzi Haberlandt: between the pieces, she reads from the diary.

And the title “Hélas, j’ai perdu mon amant” relates to the entire programme. Although taken from the Variations K360, it illustrates the biographical curve we want to trace. “Alas, I have lost my beloved” is a situation we refer to repeatedly in the programme: not only the loss of four out of six children, but also Mozart’s untimely death.”

Ulf Schneider, violin
Stephan Imorde, piano

Ulf Schneider
born in 1968, studied in Hannover, New York and Berlin with Jens Ellermann, Felix Galimir, Masao Kawasaki and Thomas Zehetmair. His artistic development was strongly influenced through impulses from Hatto Beyerle, Eberhard Feltz, Nikolaus Harnoncourt and Sir Roger Norrington.

In 1991/92 he founded the Trio Jean Paul together with Martin Löhr (violoncello) and Eckart Heiligers (piano). As a member of the trio he was awarded first prizes and several special prizes at the international chamber music competitions in Melbourne and Osaka as well as at the German Music Competition in Bonn.

Extensive international concert activities with the Trio Jean Paul, with his duo partners Stephan Imorde and Jan Philip Schulze and with the Bartholdy Quintet regularly take him to the great centres of music such as the Philharmonies in Berlin and Cologne, Alte Oper Frankfurt, Wigmore Hall London, Tonhalle Zurich, Sydney Opera House, Konzerthaus Dortmund, Mozarteum Salzburg, Vienna Konzerthaus, Palais des Beaux Arts Bruxelles, Concertgebouw Amsterdam and Gulbenkian Foundation Lisbon.

He is a welcome guest at important festivals such as the Rheingau Musik Festival, Schleswig-Holstein Festival, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festival, Berlin Festwochen, Beethovenfest Bonn, Mozartfest Würzburg, Edinburgh Festival, Lucerne and Ludwigsburg Festivals, Heidelberger Frühling, Niedersächsische Musiktage, Kissinger Sommer, the Schubertiade Schwarzenberg, among others.

As soloist, Ulf Schneider has appeared with the Württemberg Chamber Orchestra Heilbronn, Beethoven Orchester Bonn, berliner Sinfoniker, Musikkollegium Winterthur, Orchestra I Pomeriggi Musicali Milano, Presidential Orchestra Ankara, Nordböhmische Philharmonie Teplice, Dallas Symphony,Tucson Symphony, WDR-Sinfonieorchester Cologne, Radiophilharmonie Hannover, Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, Orchester des Prager Nationaltheaters with conductors such as Jörg Faerber, Antonello Manacorda, Charles Olivieri-Munroe, Eiji Oue, Petri Sakari, Marc Soustrot, Erich Bergel, Gerd Schaller, George Hanson, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Jaap van Zweden and Sylvain Cambreling.

Since 2001, Ulf Schneider is Professor at the Hannover University of Music, Drama and Media. Many of his students are prize-winners of national and international competitions, members of leading European orchestras, teachers at German universities for music as well as chamber musicians in renowned ensembles. Ulf Schneider is regularly invited to teach master classes, as well as serve as member of the jury for national and international competitions.

He is dedicated to the project Rhapsody-in-School and the PE-Förderungen für Musik Mannheim, an association supporting outstanding young musicians.

Ulf Schneider plays a Carlo Gioseppe Testore violin, generously loaned by a private collector through the offices of Violin Assets GmbH.

Booklet for Mozart: Violin Sonatas - "Hélas, j'ai perdu mon amant!"