Post by erik on May 30, 2015 18:36:51 GMT -5
One of Franz Joseph Haydn's lesser-known symphonies is in the Classical Works Spotlight this week, specifically his 70th.
Haydn: SYMPHONY NO. 70 IN D MAJOR
Few works by any composer, even those of Beethoven and Smetana who both suffered from deafness, have ever been borne out of disaster, but Haydn’s 70th Symphony is an exception. It was in the fall of 1779 that a fire destroyed various apartments and the main theatre of the Esterhazy palace, where his reputation as a symphonic master was well established as the court composer. To facilitate the building of a new performance theatre in the palace, Haydn spent a month (November 18th through December 18th) in composing the 70th Symphony, in the oft-used key of D Major. It was performed at a ceremony on the palace grounds to lay the foundations for the theatre itself. The almost royal-like opening gestures of the work have the feel of an operatic overture of the kind that Haydn’s soon-to-be contemporary Mozart would compose. The Andante, which is more than twice as long as the other three movements, is a somewhat more somber movement in D Minor, but with two variations on the movement’s theme that are in D Major. The Menuet is a very traditional Haydnesque movement in the home key; and the finale, which begins with a succession of high pianissimo Ds in the violins, then bangs in with a crashing forte outburst, with occasional ventures into the D Minor key, suggesting the destruction of the old theater, before climaxing in the optimistic D Major key that signifies the start of construction on the new theater. Originally, the work eschewed timpani because those instruments had been destroyed in the fire, but Haydn wrote parts in for them in later performances.
City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra/SIR SIMON RATTLE (EMI)
Included:
SYMPHONY NO. 60 IN C MAJOR (IL DISTRATTO)
SYMPHONY NO. 90 IN C MAJOR
Haydn: SYMPHONY NO. 70 IN D MAJOR
Few works by any composer, even those of Beethoven and Smetana who both suffered from deafness, have ever been borne out of disaster, but Haydn’s 70th Symphony is an exception. It was in the fall of 1779 that a fire destroyed various apartments and the main theatre of the Esterhazy palace, where his reputation as a symphonic master was well established as the court composer. To facilitate the building of a new performance theatre in the palace, Haydn spent a month (November 18th through December 18th) in composing the 70th Symphony, in the oft-used key of D Major. It was performed at a ceremony on the palace grounds to lay the foundations for the theatre itself. The almost royal-like opening gestures of the work have the feel of an operatic overture of the kind that Haydn’s soon-to-be contemporary Mozart would compose. The Andante, which is more than twice as long as the other three movements, is a somewhat more somber movement in D Minor, but with two variations on the movement’s theme that are in D Major. The Menuet is a very traditional Haydnesque movement in the home key; and the finale, which begins with a succession of high pianissimo Ds in the violins, then bangs in with a crashing forte outburst, with occasional ventures into the D Minor key, suggesting the destruction of the old theater, before climaxing in the optimistic D Major key that signifies the start of construction on the new theater. Originally, the work eschewed timpani because those instruments had been destroyed in the fire, but Haydn wrote parts in for them in later performances.
City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra/SIR SIMON RATTLE (EMI)
Included:
SYMPHONY NO. 60 IN C MAJOR (IL DISTRATTO)
SYMPHONY NO. 90 IN C MAJOR
