Leopold - Father

Available for 28 days

Kate Molleson tells Mozart’s story through five of the relationships that shaped the composer and his music – from his friends and family to a mentor and a supposed rival. In today’s programme, Kate looks at Mozart’s relationship with his father Leopold. A devoted dad who essentially abandoned his own career to focus on his son’s, Leopold could also be a dominating and oppressive figure, who said ‘I will give the children my heart’s blood, and when they have found their triumph and the time comes, they will give me theirs in return.’ Leopold saw it as his duty to proclaim Wolfgang’s miraculous gifts to the world and saw them as something to be exploited on gruelling European tours. He sat on the fortune he made out of his children until the end of his life, while always insisting he was in debt, and the pressure he put on Wolfgang would push them both to breaking point. Symphony no. 35, K385 ‘Haffner’ IV. Presto Orchestra Mozart Claudio Abbado, conductor Violin Concerto No. 1 in B flat, K207 II. Adagio Isabelle Faust, violin Il Giardino Armonico Giovanni Antonini, conductor Concerto for Flute Harp and orchestra in C, K299 II. Andantino Kenneth Smith, flute Bryn Lewis, harp Philharmonia Orchestra Giuseppe Sinopoli, conductor Symphony no. 31 D major, K297 'Paris' I. Allegro assai Concertgebouw Orchestra Nikolaus Harnoncourt, conductor Idomeneo (excerpt) Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra Sir Simon Rattle, conductor Piano Concerto No. 20 in D minor, K466 III. Rondo Jean-Efflam Bavouzet, piano Manchester Camerata Gábor Takács-Nagy, conductor