The German American Heritage Center presents “Mozart's Eine Kleine Nachtmusi" with Jacob Bancks -- March 28.
Sunday, March 28, 2 p.m.
Presented by the German American Heritage Center
Classical-music fans can enjoy a little bit of “A ittle Night Music” when area composer Jacob Bancks, on March 28, delivers the virtual presentation Mozart's Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, a German American Heritage Center program that uses this much-loved composition to explore how listeners can develop particular habits of listening to music.
Eine Kleine Nachtmusik was completed in Vienna on August 10, 1787, around the time Mozart was working on the second act of his opera Don Giovanni. While it is not precisely known why the piece was composed, German author Wolfgang Hildesheimer, noting that most of Mozart's serenades were written on commission, suggests that this serenade, too, was a commission whose origin and first performance were not recorded. The traditionally used name of the work comes from the entry Mozart made for it in his personal catalog, which begins, "Eine kleine Nacht-Musik". As musicologist Neal Zaslaw has stated, Mozart almost certainly was not giving the piece a special title, but only entering in his records that he had completed a little serenade. Mozart's work was not published until about 1827, long after the composer's death, by Johann André in the German city Offenbach am Main. The composition had been sold to this publisher in 1799 by Mozart's widow Constanze as part of a large bundle of her husband's compositions. Today, the widely performed and recorded serenade is among the most popular of all Mozart's works, and Hildesheimer wrote of the music that “even if we hear it on every street corner, its high quality is undisputed, an occasional piece from a light but happy pen.”
With his works praised by the New York Times as “colorfully orchestrated” and “invitingly lyrical,” Bancks serves as an associate professor of music at Augustana and directs the choir of St. Paul the Apostle Catholic Church. In addition to writing program notes for the Quad City Symphony Orchestra and co-hosting a monthly educational program on WVIK public radio, Bancks has composed frequently for local ensembles including the Moline High School Orchestra, the Quincy Symphony, and Trinity Episcopal Cathedral. Recordings of his music have been released by American Modern Recordings and broadcast on BBC Radio 3, American Public Media’s Performance Today, and WFMT-Chicago Classical Radio, and later this year, the Quad City Symphony will stage his first opera Karkinos, co-commissioned by Living Proof Exhibit and inspired by over 30 in-person interviews with people whose lives have been impacted by cancer. Other current projects include a large cycle of solo piano music for pianist Kuang-Hao Huang and a concerto for clarinetist Ricardo Morales, co-commissioned by the Quad City Symphony and the Philadelphia Orchestra.
Mozart's Eine Kleine Nachtmusik will be presented at 2 p.m. on March 28, with the live event hosted via Zoom, and although the program is free, donations are greatly appreciated. A short Q&A with Jacob Bancks will take place immediately after the presentation, and more information on the online event is available by calling (563)322-8844 and visiting GAHC.org.
