A fantastical piece against a fantastic backdrop: Mozart’s Fantasy in C minor (K. 475) played by Kit Armstrong at the Margravial Opera House Bayreuth, 2019. Watch the whole concert with Kit Armstrong: https://youtu.be/Zg4uXeBGPCA The highlight of the concert evenings that Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 - 1791) regularly held with a small orchestra in Vienna were his improvisations on the fortepiano, with which the composer enriched the program. Mozart usually did not write down these always much acclaimed piano pieces, so they are lost to posterity. One exception is the Fantasy in C minor (K. 475), which Mozart set to music and published in 1785. The Piano Fantasy in C minor begins in a somber and restrained C minor. Characteristic, however, is then a multiple change between minor and major keys, which provides an alternating bath of musical expressions that oscillate between exuberant cheerfulness and deepest sadness. Finally, the round dance ends again in the initial key of C minor, which gives the Fantasy K. 475 a cohesive form despite all its variety. The Fantasy in C minor is one of Mozart’s best-known fantasies and is – like most of Mozart’s works – hugely challenging. Fun fact: Mozart was not poor, but he was always short of money because he lived a less-than-modest lifestyle. He often tried to make a quick buck with hastily written compositions. This was also the case with the manuscript of the C minor Fantasy. Mozart quickly sold it (together with that of the subsequent Piano Sonata in C minor) in order to temporarily secure his livelihood from the little money he had. In 1990 the autograph of these two piano works was auctioned at Sotheby’s for £880,000. The Mozart Fantasy in C minor is part of a longer piano recital given by Kit Armstrong in Bayreuth on July 24, 2019. The program also included works by Franz Liszt and Richard Wagner. The fantastic setting for this concert is provided by the Margravial Opera House Bayreuth, one of the most beautiful Baroque theaters in the world. It has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2012. The grand piano that Armstrong plays also comes from Bayreuth – from the renowned piano manufacturers Streingraeber & Söhne, who have been making pianos since 1852. Thumbnail: © BFMI Watch more concerts in your personal concert hall: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL_SdnzPd3eBV5A14dyRWy1KSkwcG8LEey Subscribe to DW Classical Music: https://www.youtube.com/dwclassicalmusic #wolfgangamadeusmozart #pianomusic #kitarmstrong