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Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart composed sonatas for violin and piano from his earliest youth until his final years. But while the early pieces are little more than piano sonatas with violin accompaniments, the more mature works of 1778 begin to integrate the violin and piano parts more closely, and to highlight the growing independence and virtuosity of the violin. Mozart composed several violin sonatas during his stay in Mannheim in 1778. These first mature sonatas reflect some of the InchSturm und DrangInch atmosphere of the music at the court of Mannheim, which emboldened Mozart to write in a freer and more dramatic mode. Austrian director and violinist Gunar Letzbor studied composition, conducting and violin in Salzburg and Cologne. He was a regular member of Musica Antiqua Koln, Clemencic Consort, Armonico Tributo Basel and the Wiener Akademie. In 1995 he founded the ensemble Ars Antiqua Austria. He is professor at the University of Music in Lubeck. The Austrian harpsichordist, Erich Traxler, studied organ, harpsichord and piano at the Brucknerkonservatorium Linz, Upper Austria and at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna with Michael Radulescu, August Humer, Wolfgang Glüxam, Gordon Murray and Brett Leighton. Numerous prizes at national competitions for piano and organ. Graduation with distinction in all subjects, merit prize from the University of Music Vienna.
