1791, LA DERNIÈRE ANNÉE DE MOZART. ET APRÈS ? The Magic Flute and the Requiem both date from 1791, a quasi-mythological year in Mozart legend. That year would see the creation a host of masterpieces before ending with the death of their creator. So much so that H.C. Robbins Landon, a leading Mozart scholar, dedicated an entire book to this fabled year. While we now know fairly well how the final moments of Mozart's life unfolded, less attention has been paid to the transition between 1791 and the first years thereafter, when the legend began to take shape. This lecture in French invites us to immerse ourselves in the interval between the end of Mozart the man and the beginning of Mozart the myth. It focuses on the aesthetics and circumstances of the composition of Mozart’s final masterpieces and then examines how these works were received around 1800, particularly in Belgium and France. Hugo Rodriguez is currently a research associate at the Royal Library of Belgium (KBR). He holds a doctorate in musicology from the Free University of Brussels and authored a dissertation examining the question of meaning in music, considered at the intersection of history, philosophy and cognitive sciences. He also researches comedy in music and Belgian musical life. He was one of the curators of the exhibition 'Toots 100: The Sound of a Belgian Legend' and co-organiser of other projects (colloquia, conferences, concerts, publications) on the occasion of the centenary of Toots Thielemans' birth.
Friday 16.6 | 17:00 by Laurent Fack and Anne Pingen
LA FLÛTE ENCHANTÉE, CONTE FÉERIQUE OU PHILOSOPHIQUE ?
This opera, perhaps more than any other of Mozart's, has been the subject of much discussion and is open to various interpretations. Was Schikaneder, its librettist, aiming for a fairy-tale triumph (in which we find comedy, levity, Egyptology, wonder and fantasy) in order to secure the financial future of his theatre? Or did he rather aspire to stage a philosophical, even didactic play (in which moral values, Masonic precepts or Enlightenment concepts emerge) in order to elevate his audience towards a better world? This conference in French offers some thought-provoking insights into a libretto sublimated by a composer at the height of his art. Would Mozart unconsciously bequeath his musical and spiritual testament with this masterful opera?
Laurent Fack, General Director of the Royal Chamber Orchestra of Wallonia (ORCW), is an active member of the 'Commission des Artistes' of the Belgian Federal Government and the 'Commission de Concertation des Arts de la Scène' of the Wallonia-Brussels Federation. He is also a board member of Mars ('Mons Arts de la Scène'), the CAV&MA in Namur, and the 'Conseil de la Musique' ('Fête de la Musique') of the Wallonia-Brussels Federation. His passion for The Magic Flute dates back to his university days (he even wrote his thesis on the work) and still inspires him today. Anne Pingen, today the first violist of the ORCW, obtained her higher diplomas in violin and chamber music at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Mons. In 1977, she won the Pro Civitate competition, which led her to perform as a soloist in Belgium and abroad. A keen chamber musician, she joined the ORCW in 1982 as second violin soloist, before becoming viola soloist in 1990. Co-director of the 'École de musique' in Lasne, she is also the programmer of the concert season at the Château de Chimay and of the 'Soirées Musicales de Mont-sur-Marchienne', one of the oldest concert series in Belgium.
'MAISON CFC' - PUBLISHERS & BOOKSTORE Maison CFC is located on the ground floor of a neoclassical building on the emblematic 'Place des Martyrs' in Brussels. There it develops a project with two complementary domains: publishing and bookselling. Its policy of publishing, distributing and promoting books, as well as running its own bookshop, is reflected in the publication of works and the organisation of events such as exhibitions, lectures, meetings, workshops, tours, concerts and performances. Its main objective is to promote cultural heritage as well as artistic and literary life in the French-speaking community of Brussels. Known from 1992 under the name 'Quartiers Latins', the venue was renamed 'Maison CFC - éditions & librairie' in 2017. www.maisoncfc.be