Army of Generals: May 2023 Concerts

Anders Muskens leads the international ensemble Das Neue Mannheimer Orchester along with Canadian soprano Elisabeth Hetherington in a concert showcasing symphonies and opera from the golden age of the Mannheim court during 1750–78. The then-famous Mannheim orchestra and its school inspired generations of composers, including a young Mozart who travelled there in 1777. “Army of Generals” comes from a quote by English musicologist Charles Burney, who visited Mannheim and Schwetzingen (the summer residence of the court) in 1772 and wrote: “There are more solo players and good composers in this, than perhaps in any other orchestra in Europe; it is an army of generals, equally fit to plan a battle, as to fight it.” We seek to revive this often neglected repertory and explore what made it so captivating for eighteenth-century audiences; and certainly also modern ones.This concert and recording are by the Canada Council for the Arts | Conseil des arts du Canada, Gemeente Amsterdam, Gemeente Deventer, and the Adriana Jacoba Fonds.

The painting featured below is entitled "Verherrlichung des Kurfürsten Karl Theodor von der Pfalz" (1772) by Franz Anton von Leydensdorf (1721-1795). It is an allegory to the cultural activities organised by Elector Karl Theodor at his court in Mannheim.