Bardengesang auf Gibraltar: O Calpe! Dir donnert's am Fusse (K. Anh. 25 / 386d) is the title of a fragment for voice and piano[1] composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in 1782 to celebrate the Great Siege of Gibraltar.[2] The song's lyrics were written by the Austrian poet and bibliographer Michael Denis (1729–1800).[3]
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History
Mozart never visited Gibraltar and his homeland of Austria was not involved in the war between France, Spain and Britain which included the Great Siege.[2] However, given that Mozart was Austrian, and that Gibraltar was originally taken in 1704 by the Grand Alliance of Powers on behalf of the Archduke of Austria, when the Great Siege came about between the same opponents as 80 years previously Austria was supportive of the defenders.[2]
Furthermore, Mozart was not keen on the French but did have a fondness for the British and two of his English students were among his favourites.[2]
In a letter of 28 December 1782 Mozart wrote:
| “ | …I am engaged in a very difficult task, the music for the bard's song by Denis about Gibraltar. But this is a secret, for it is a Hungarian lady who wishes to pay this compliment to Denis. The ode is sublime, beautiful, anything you like, but too exaggerated and pompous for my fastidious ears. But what is to be done? The golden mean of truth in all things is no longer either known or appreciated. In order to win applause one must write stuff which is so inane that a fiacre could sing it, or so unintelligible that it pleases precisely because no sensible man can understand it…[2] | ” |
Lyrics
References
- ^ Score at the Neue Mozart-Ausgabe
- ^ a b c d e "Mozart's Tribute to Gibraltar". The Gibraltar Magazine. http://www.thegibraltarmagazine.com/mozart_tribute.html. Retrieved on 5 August 2007.[dead link]
- ^ German and Catalan lyrics
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