Joseph Haydn: Divertimento in G Major (Cassation), Hob. II:2
I. Presto
II. Allegro moderato
III. Minuet 1 – Trio
IV. Adagio
V. Minuet 2 – Trio
VI. Finale. Presto
In 1761, at the age of twenty-nine, Haydn became assistant conductor of Prince Nikolaus Esterházy’s Esterházy Orchestra. Haydn had decades of unprecedented productivity and significance in the history of music ahead of him, and posterity is likely to regard this notable year as the starting point of Haydn’s career. His exceptionally witty ‘Divertimento in G Major,’ which displays a wide range of musical colours and moods, is a masterpiece by a young composer and constitutes a marvellous example of what Haydn had already been capable of composing before he actually entered the Prince’s service.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 23 in A major, K 488
I. Allegro
II. Adagio
III. Allegro assai
Mozart (1756–1791) was a perfectly-skilled violin and viola player. In addition, he was an accomplished player of the piano and of all keyboard instruments. In the 1770s, he was primarily a violinist in the service of the Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg, but after moving to Vienna (1781) the piano became his main instrument. He recognised that it was in his capacity as a performing artist that he could most quickly build social and musical connections. According to records, in 1783, for example, he performed on twenty-two occasions at public and aristocratic house concerts. He also organised his own private evenings, known as “academies,” available with special season tickets. Between 1782 and 1786, he composed no fewer than fifteen piano concertos for concerts in Vienna. Mozart’s own text perfectly well describes these pieces: “When composing them, my aim was that, despite their brilliance, they should not be empty; that they should satisfy both the expert and the music-lover alike; in short, I wanted to make sure that everyone might find in them what they were looking for.” The first movement (Allegro) of ‘Piano Concerto in A Major’ follows the sonata form: in keeping with Mozart’s practice, the exposition is first played without the soloist’s participation. Perhaps the most memorable movement of the composition is ‘Andante’ in F-sharp minor, one of Mozart’s most sorrowful and melancholic compositions, which can only be counterbalanced by a finale as energetic as ‘Allegro assai,’ which brings the work to a close.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Symphony No. 41 in C major, K 551 ‘Jupiter’
I. Allegro vivace
II. Andante cantabile
III. Menuetto. Allegro
IV. Molto Allegro
Mozart’s handwritten catalogue entry to this piece shows the date of completion of ‘Symphony No. 41 in C Major’ as 10th August 1788. Mozart wrote three symphonies that summer: one in E-flat major, another one in G minor and the third one in C major, which constitute the last three works of this genre in his lifework. It is not entirely clear why he did not compose any further symphonies after these three, nor is it clear for what occasion these three were written. It seems likely that Mozart wrote them for a planned series of concerts or a solo recital event (also called “academy”). The most notable movement of ‘Jupiter Symphony’ is the finale with its virtuoso contrapuntal technique. The name that became widespread in the 19th century – “the symphony with a closing fugue” – also drew attention to this movement. The theme, which begins with four notes, is one of Mozart’s favourite and frequently used motifs, which is identical to the opening of a Gregorian Magnificat melody. The same theme appeared on several occasions in Mozart’s Salzburg church works written between 1774 and 1776. Even at that time, this theme lent itself easily to the musical requirements of contrapuntal composition. However, Mozart also developed the movement’s other material (the transition themes and the secondary theme, as required by the sonata form) using contrapuntal techniques. As the climax of this masterfully complex composition, the four themes in the movement’s coda are played simultaneously. It is thought that the name ‘Jupiter Symphony’ was coined and popularised by a German entrepreneur living in London called Johann Peter Salomon, who commissioned Haydn’s ‘London’ Symphonies.
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Haydn and Mozart
2026. OCT 13., 7:30 PM
Liszt Academy
JEGYEK
photo: Dezső Ránki
Written by music historian Szabolcs Molnár