4 mélodies

The first song Abendempfindung composed in 1787 has an expressive melody with the text in German. Later, others further developed the genre in which it was written, notably Schubert. The flowing movement of quavers in the guitar part make some of the lower notes hard to sustain, but mostly this accompaniment flows well.
Ave Verum Corpus for solo voice soprano, alto, tenor, baritone, strings and organ was written in 1791 - the last year of Mozart's life. It was a new style of religious music, which was plain, simple and accessible. The Latin text dates back to the Middle Ages. It is a compact and beautiful piece with an accompaniment of chords made easier to play by the adagio tempo. Laudate Dominum composed in 1780 is again another well-known religious piece in Latin. This has a long introduction played by the guitar, into which the melody is interwoven into the flowing semiquavers. Three out of the four arias are in the key of D with a string six D tuning. The last song, Das Veilchen (1785) is the exception set in the higher key of G, to a poem by Goethe, it is one of Mozart's most celebrated and original works. The other three arias are also set in a medium voice range. Part of the reason why these songs are still so widely sung today is that the standard for the singer varies from a modest Grade III to approximately Grade VI and above. However the standard is higher for the guitarist who needs to be a strong player to cope with these detailed accompaniments.
The centrepiece of the cover, which is bordered by bold slabs of antique gold and rich brown, is a full colour reproduction of a painting by Michel Barthélémy Olivier. It portrays a group of affluent 18thcentury men, some holding instruments enjoying a musical afternoon, presided over by a woman sitting at the tea table; it is titled «The English Tea«. In the preface there is a brief outline, in French, of the social and artistic standing of the guitar at the time these songs were written, mentioning that Francesco Molino (1768-1847) composed variations on a theme of Mozart and Fernando Sor (1778-1839) did the same on a theme from Mozart's opera The Magic Flute. Mozart was a composer of undeniable genius and his style is completely unique.He wrote in every major genre, so why not let the guitar have its turn?
Sandra Hambleton Smith (Classical Guitar Magazine)