A newly rediscovered piece of music by Mozart was performed by the TCC string faculty at a concert on Sept. 24 at NE.
“This might be the first time in Texas, maybe in America, that this piece has been heard,” said Kourtney Newton, a cellist at the concert and a music instructor at NE.
“Serenade in C” by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is a 12-minute piece written for two violins and one cello. It was unplayed for an estimated 250 years before its rediscovery in a library in Germany.
After its world premiere at the Leipzig Opera in Germany on Sept. 21, Hsinyi Wang, a music professor at NE, got access to the piece and the performers made the last-minute decision to change the program for their first string faculty showcase.
The performance was a short movement from the piece played by Cassandra Lin, Iris Messinger and Wang. Ulrich Leisinger, head of research at the Mozarteum, a foundation dedicated to Mozart’s work, said the piece was likely written by Mozart between the ages of 10 to 13 years old as Mozart no longer created music like this after his late teens.
Wang said the string faculty was inspired by the piano faculty’s concert in the spring semester.
“I asked my string colleague if they would be interested to do something together,” Wang said. “It is more fun to do a string faculty showcase concert because once we put all the violin, viola, cello and bass together, we actually form a string orchestra.”
The orchestra is comprised of 10 instructors playing various string instruments, making TCC the home of one of the largest string faculties in northeast Texas.
The free concert was attended by a packed audience and included not only pieces from classical musicians like Mozart but also modern music like “Paint It Black” by the Rolling Stones.
Wang said there is nothing wrong with a musician having a diverse selection of contemporary music along with classical pieces.
“This is very similar to what Mozart did when he wrote music,” Wang said. “We take those music [pieces] seriously because they are so pretty. … But originally, many of the pieces are background music for social occasions.”
Jerry Ringe, NE department chair and professor of music, said it was important for the music faculty to do things like this as many people in the TCC community don’t know about the resources available to them through the music department.
“I often [say] that we have an embarrassment of riches, both with the faculty and with the students,” Ringe said.
TCC has a symphony orchestra comprising music students and community musicians that performs two concerts every semester. The next concert will be Oct. 27 at NE.
“If we’re having concerts, don’t miss us,” Ringe said.
Bailey Zemanek, a psychology student at NE, is a fan of classical music and was excited to go to a free concert at TCC.
“I was really excited to see faculty and just be a part of the musical moment,” Zemanek said.
