Focus Bohlenstube

Like all members of the clarinet family, the basset horn is one of the younger woodwind instruments. The first basset horns were built in southern Germany and Austria in the mid-18th century, and it is highly unlikely that George Frideric Handel, who died in London in 1759, ever saw or heard one. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, on the other hand, was fascinated by the basset horn as well as its sister instrument, the clarinet. Not only did Augsburg, the hometown of his father Leopold, play a major role in the development of the basset horn, but his friendship with the clarinetist Anton Stadtler may also have played a part. Mozart composed several divertimenti for three basset horns, which today, due to the rarity of the instrument, are mostly played by other woodwind ensembles.
This concert offers a rare opportunity to come close to the sound Mozart intended. The program also includes arrangements of famous works by Mozart and Handel, whose music thus comes into contact with the basset horn after all. The Slovakian Trio Lotz is named after the instrument maker Theodor Lotz (1746-1792), who further developed the basset horn in Pressburg and Vienna. The ensemble plays on replicas of historical basset horns.