A program celebrating Vienna’s musical brilliance around 1800, with a strong spotlight on female artists. At its center stands Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, its four‑note motif a symbol of resistance. We honor violinist Regina Strinasacchi, muse of Mozart’s Sonata KV 454, alongside works by Maddalena Sirmen and Maria Antonia Walpurgis. Paul Wranitzky’s symphony and Mozart’s La Clemenza di Tito Overture complete this vivid portrait of a city alive with power and innovation.
This program opens with one of the most iconic works ever written: Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5, premiered in Vienna in 1808 when the composer stood at the height of his fame. Its four note motif has become the world’s most recognizable classical theme, often interpreted as a musical stand against tyranny during the Napoleonic Wars.
Vienna at that time was a magnet for musicians, among them the remarkable violinist Regina Strinasacchi. Her legacy survives largely thanks to a letter Leopold Mozart wrote after hearing her in 1785, praising her expressive, masterful playing and using her as proof that women could perform with greater depth than many men. Strinasacchi later commissioned Mozart’s Sonata KV 454, which they premiered together in Vienna. Despite restrictive social norms that discouraged women from performing publicly, she achieved notable fame and composed several works, including a violin concerto preserved today in the British Library.
To introduce Strinasacchi’s world, the concert begins with pieces by two fellow female composers: Maddalena Sirmen, trained at Venice’s Ospedale della Pietà, and Maria Antonia Walpurgis, daughter of Emperor Karl VII. The program continues with a symphony by Paul Wranitzky, a prominent Moravian composer bridging Classicism and Romanticism, and concludes with Mozart’s overture to La Clemenza di Tito, written for the coronation of Emperor Francis II and centered on themes of mercy, virtue, and political power.