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The Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia on WRTI: Haydn and Beethoven, August 21, 5 PM

Portrait by Thomas Hardy, 1791
Jospeh Haydn (1732-1809)

Join us on Sunday from 5 to 6 pm as we present August’s concert broadcast by the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, opening with an archival recording made at the Walnut Street Theater, with the orchestra’s founder and then–music director Marc Mostovoy conducting. Current music director Dirk Brossé conducts the second half of the program, which was recorded at the Kimmel Center’s Perelman Theater in February, 2011.

It’s an hour of music by Haydn and his student Beethoven.

Haydn’s symphonies 70-81 have not been given critical justice, falling as they do between the vibrant and emotional Sturm und Drang symphonies and the highly celebrated “Paris” symphonies. Nonetheless, they are charming, lyrical, and well worth our time. Haydn always provides something to delight the ears. No. 71 in B-flat was composed around 1780 and is scored for flute, two oboes, bassoon, two horns, and strings. Listen particularly for the trio of the third movement—the minuet—as two violins converse with the pizzicato bass.
 
Ludwig van Beethoven dedicated his Symphony No. 1 in C major, Op. 21 to Baron Gottfried van Swieten, an early patron of the composer. The piece was published in 1801 in Leipzig.

We hears echoes of his teacher, Haydn, as well as touches of Mozart, but we cannot mistake the music for anyone’s but Beethoven’s. The premiere concert, in Vienna in April of 1800, was obviously meant to awaken Vienna to Beethoven’s musical talents, and included his Septet and 2nd Piano Concerto, as well as works by Haydn and Mozart. They don’t program concerts like that anymore!