Augusta McKay Lodge

American Classical Orchestra

In 1778, at the age of 22, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart visited Paris with his mother.  On a previous visit, he and his older sister, Nannerl, had been paraded before Europe’s courts and aristocrats as child prodigies.  Nannerl was then twelve; Wolfgang, seven.

Mozart’s 1778 reception was somewhat different.  He claimed the performance of his own Sinfonia Concertante had been sabotaged by an Italian composer, Giuseppe Cambini.  To make up for that, Joseph le Gros, the director of the esteemed French public concert series, Concert Spirituel, asked him to write a new symphony.  The result was Symphony No. 31 in D Major, known as Mozart’s ‘Paris’ Symphony.  It premiered at the Parisian home of Count Karl von Sickingen on June 12, 1778, with its first public performance at Concert Spirituel six days later.

EPSG:4326

Premier coup d’archet