Haydn Concerts
Fifth Season of The New Esterházy Quartet
- I - Dedicated to Haydn V:
Quartets by Haydn, Bernard Romberg, and Mozart (in A, K. 464)
Saturday, September 10, 2011 at 8pm; St Mark’s Lutheran Church, San Francisco
Sunday, September 11, 2011 at 4pm; All Saints’ Episcopal Church, Palo Alto
II - Haydn and his Students III:
Quartets by Haydn, Anton Reicha, and Beethoven (in F minor, Op. 95, Serioso)
Saturday, November 26, 2011 at 4pm; St Mark’s Lutheran Church, San Francisco
Sunday, November 27, 2011 at 4pm; All Saints’ Episcopal Church, Palo Alto
III - Dedicated to Haydn VI:
Quartets by Haydn, Peter Hänsel, and Mozart (in C, K. 465, Dissonant)
Saturday, January 7, 2012 at 4pm; St Mark’s Lutheran Church, San Francisco
Sunday January 8, 2012 at 4pm; All Saints’ Episcopal Church, Palo Alto
IV - Special “Half-Way to Spring” performance of Haydn’s own favorite composition: The Seven Last Words of Our Savior on the Cross:
With homilies by Alan Jones, former Dean of Grace Cathedral
Saturday, February 4, 2012 at 4pm; St Mark’s Lutheran Church, San Francisco
Sunday, February 5, 2012 at 4pm; All Saints’ Episcopal Church, Palo Alto
V - Haydn and his Students IV:
Quartets by Haydn, Anton Wranitzky, and Beethoven (in A minor, Op. 132)
Saturday, May 14, 2012 at 8pm; St Mark’s Lutheran Church, San Francisco
Sunday, May 15, 2012 at 4pm; All Saints’ Episcopal Church, Palo Alto
Salon Sanctuary Concerts presents The Classical Romantic on March 23rd
On Friday, March 23rd, 2012 at 8:00pm, Salon/Sanctuary Concerts presents
Rufus Müller, tenor
Cynthia Roberts, violin
Christoph Hammer, fortepiano
Allen Whear, cello
The Classical RomanticTenor Rufus Müller, acclaimed for “a vocal freedom and interpretative eloquence that tookthe breath away” is joined by three internationally renowned musicians for an intimate evening of song and chamber music, featuring repertoire by Beethoven and those who came before and after him, including Haydn and Kleinheinz.
DATE/TIME:
Friday, March 23rd 8:00pm
LOCATION:
The Liederkranz Foundation Concert Hall
6 East 87th Street, 3rd Floor
New York, NY 10128
ADMISSION:
$25/$15 seniors & students
RESERVATIONS:
http://www.salonsanctuaryconcerts.org
orders@gemsny.org
(212) 866-0468
Program
Haydn, Trio in e minor, Hob. XV:12
Beethoven, Scottish folk songs
Sonata in E flat major, Op. 9, by Franz Xaver Kleinheinz (1765 – 1832)
Artists
British/German tenor Rufus Müllerwas acclaimed by The New York Times following a recent performance in Carnegie Hall as "...easily the best tenor I have heard in a live Messiah." He is a leading Evangelist's in Bach's Passions and his unique dramatic interpretation of this role has confirmed his status as one of the world's most sought-after performers. He gave the world premiere of Jonathan Miller's acclaimed production of the St. Matthew Passion, which he also recorded for United and broadcast on BBC TV; he repeated the role in April 2009 in a third revival of the production at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York (“a sensational Evangelist”- New York Times). Rufus is also a leading recitalist, performing worldwide with Maria João Pires.
In addition to Rufus’ success in live opera and oratorio, his recordings include Bach’s St John Passion and Bach Cantatas with JohnElliot Gardiner for DG Archiv, Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte and Beethoven’s Choral Fantasia with Roger Norrington for EMI, Messiah with Tafelmusik, Haydn’s Creation with Edward Higginbottom and New College Oxford, Handel’s operas Ariodante with Nicholas McGegan and Rodrigo with Alan Curtis, songs by Franz Lachner with Christoph Hammer on Oehms Classics, and Ned Rorem’s Evidence of Things Not Seen with the New York Festival of Song on New World Records.
The 2011/12 season includes recitals with Christoph Hammer in Germany, a recital tour of Japan, Britten’s Serenade in Toronto, Hans Zender’s version of Winterreise in Montreal, Bach’s St. John Passion in Oxford, New York and Washington DC, a tour of the USA with Rebel, Messiah in Montreal, Toronto, Calgary, and Washington DC, Mendelssohn’s Paulus in Madrid, Creation in Norway, Satyavan in Holst’s opera Savitri with Little Opera Theater New York, and the title rôle in Monteverdi’s Orfeo in Germany with Andrew Parrott. Rufus was born in Kent, England and was a choral scholar at New College, Oxford. He studied in New York with Thomas LoMonaco. In 1985 he won first prize in the English Song Award in Brighton, and in 1999 he was a prize winner in the Oratorio Society of New York Singing Competition. He is Assistant Professor of Music at Bard College.
Fortepianist Christoph Hammerhas achieved an international reputation as a soloist and lieder accompanist as well as in chamber music. He also dedicates his time to the rediscovery of little-known composers as well as researching and editing their works. Having won first prize in the nationwide Jugend Musiziert competition playing the organ in his native Germany at the age of 17, he subsequently studied organ at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Munich and was a scholarship winner of the Stiftung Maximilaneum and the Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes. In addition, he studied German Literature and Musicology at the Ludwig-Maximilian University in Munich and at UCLA. Since 1989, Hammer has focused on playing historical keyboard instruments, especially the fortepiano. In 2009 he was appointed associate professor of harpsichord and fortepiano at the University of North Texas in Denton. Hammer has taught master classes at the Czech State Music Academy in Prague, the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow, and the State Music Academy in Minsk. He has appeared as soloist with Concert Cologne, the Netherlands Chamber Orchestra, the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra and the Prague Chamber Orchestra. He is founder and conductor of the Neue Hofkapelle München and has conducted opera/oratorio productions by Monteverdi, Handel, Steffani, Purcell, Leo, Mozart and many others. Mr. Hammer's extensive discography includes solo fortepiano works of Czerny, Hummel and Schumann, lieder with tenor Rufus Müller, and numerous operas.
Violinist Cynthia Robertsis one of America's leading baroque violinists and has appeared as soloist, leader, and recitalist throughout North America, Europe, and Asia. She teaches at the Juilliard School as well as the University of North Texas and the Oberlin Baroque Performance Institute. She has served as concertmaster of the New York Collegium, Apollo's Fire, Concert Royal, and Les Arts Florissants. She performs regularly with Tafelmusik and the American Bach Soloists, and is a principal player in the Carmel Bach Festival. She has appeared with the London Classical Players, Taverner Players, Clarion Music Society, and Smithsonian Chamber Players. Her playing was featured on the soundtrack of the film Casanova and she has performed live on the Late Show with David Letterman. This season she toured South America as concertmaster of the Los Angeles ensemble Musica Angelica with actor John Malkovich in a program entitled The Infernal Comedy: Confessions of a Serial Killer. She has given master classes at Eastman, the Cleveland Institute, Cornell, Rutgers, and for the Jeune Orchestre Atlantique and the New World Symphony. Her recording credits include Sony, Analekta, BMG/Deutsche Harmonia Mundi, and Eclectra. She made her debut at age 12 with Chicago's Grant Park Symphony, performing the Mendelssohn Concerto, and later appeared as soloist with the Boston Pops and numerous orchestras in the Boston area.
Cellist Allen Whearis Associate Principal Cellist of Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra, Principal Cellist and Recital Director of the Carmel Bach Festival, and Artistic Director of Bltimore's Pro Musica Rara. A graduate of the New England Conservatory and the Juilliard School, he was the recipient of an ITT International Fellowship and studied with Anner Bylsma in Amsterdam and holds a doctorate from Rutgers University. He has performed as soloist with Tafelmusik, the Brandenburg Collegium, Philadelphia Classical Symphony, the Mid-Atlantic Chamber Orchestra, and the Charleston Symphony. He has appeared with Musica Antiqua Köln, the Vienna Boys Choir, Concert Royal, the Mozartean Players, and the Smithsonian Chamber Players. His recording credits include Sony, Virgin, Musical Heritage, Naxos, and Deutsche Harmonia Mundi. He recently joined the faculty of the University of North Texas College of Music.
MusicWeb International has praised
Salon/Sanctuary Concertsprogramming: “It is a rare occurrence at any concert or opera when every possible aspect of the performance experience succeeds completely. I am not simply referring to the musicians, concert hall or instruments but to the gestalt: the unified whole that makes the sum greater than all of its parts.” Founded by Artistic Director Jessica Gould in 2009, Salon/Sanctuary offers an alternative to the conventional concert hall, presenting internationally recognized artists and ensembles performing pre-Romantic music in the kinds of spaces for which the repertoire was intended. Salon/Sanctuary takes pride in presenting special interdisciplinary projects featuring luminaries from the worlds of opera, theater, and dance, and many projects feature innovative programming that offers the opportunity to view history and various historical issues through the prism of music. Recent projects in this mold include the December 2010 production of I WERE, featuring the work of Metropolitan Opera countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo and renowned choreographer Karole Armitage, and the December 2011 performance of More Between Heaven and Earth, which starred internationally acclaimed film actor Matthew Modine and TONY-Award nominees Melissa Errico and Kathleen Chalfant.
HAYDN Festival EISENSTADT
Artistic Director: Dr. Walter Reicher 24. International Haydndays
“Haydn & Italy”
6th to 16th of September 2012
„Haydn & Italy“ will be the big issue of the 24th International Haydn Days in Eisenstadt. From 6th of September until 16 th of September 2012 classical music stars from all over the world will perform at the festival.
Italy has always been a place of longing of the great artists. Whether painter, musician or composer, they travelled south. Although Haydn never travelled to Italy, he had a strong affinity to this country: He loved the music and spoke perfect Italian.
The Programme of the International Haydn Days 2012 moves Eisenstadt in the vicinity of the great Italian music centres such as Venice or Naples. Artistic Director Dr. Walter Reicher has invited the most celebrated Haydn experts to Eisenstadt: These include the Haydn expert Adam Fischer and his Austrian-Hungarian Haydn Orchestra, Giovanni Antonini and Il Giardino Armonico as Orchestra in Residence, Mischa Maisky, Patricia Kopatchinskaja and the Academy of Ancient Music with Bernard Labadie, to name just a few of the illustrious artists and ensembles of international renown.
Programme:
Thursday, 6th of September 2012,7:30 p.m.
Esterházy Palace , Haydnhall
Il Giardino Armonico
Paolo Beschi, cello
Giovanni Antonini, conductor and flute
J. Haydn: Symphony No.6 D major "Der Morgen"
A. Vivaldi: Cello concerto c minor, RV 401
A. Vivaldi: Concerto Op.10 No.3 D major "Il Gardellino"
J. Haydn: Concerto for two Lire organizzate C-Dur, Hob.II:32
J. Haydn: Symphony No.74 E flat major “The Agreement”– Friday, 7thof September 2012, 7:30 p.m.
Esterházy Palace, Haydnhall
Austrian Hungarian Haydn Orchestra
N.N., Violine
Adam Fischer, conductor
F. Schubert: Italian Ouverture"
N. Paganini: concert for violin No.2 Op.7 h-minor "La Campanella"
J. Haydn: Symphony No.103 E flat major "Drumroll"– Saturday, 8th of September 2012, 11.00 a.m.
Esterházy Palace , Empirehall
Roland Batik, piano
J.S. Bach: Italian concert F major, BWV 971
D. Scarlatti: Sonata Pasticcio
R. Batik: "Batik überquert die Alpen" (UA)
J. Haydn: Sonata G major, Hob.XVI:40
J. Haydn: Sonata E flat major, Hob.XVI:49– Saturday, 8th of September 2012, 7.30 p.m.
Esterházy Palace , Haydnhall
Il Giardino Armonico
Stefano Barneschi, violin
Giovanni Antonini, conductor
J. Haydn: Symphony No.7 C major "Der Mittag"
J. Haydn: Symphony No.22 E flat major "Der Philosoph"
A. Vivaldi: Concerto for violin Op.8 No.10 B flat major "La Caccia"
J. Haydn: Symphony No.31 D major "Hornsignal"– Sunday, 9th of September 2012, 10.15 a.m.
Eisenstadt, Bergkirche
Choir and Orchestra of the Bergkirche
Josef Bauer, conductor
J. Haydn: Missa in tempore belli C-Dur
– Sunday, 9th of September 2012, 7.30 p.m.
Esterházy Palace , Haydnhall
Il Giardino Armonico
Stefano Barneschi, violin
Marco Bianchi, violin
Giovanni Antonini, conductor and flute
J. Haydn: Symphony No.39 g minor "Il mare turbito"
C. Tessarini: Concerto for two violins und strings Op.IV No.4 D major "La Stravaganza" A. Vivaldi: Concerto F major "La tempesta di mare"A. Vivaldi: flute concert g minor op.10 No.2 “La Notte”
J. Haydn: Symphony No.8 G major "Der Abend"
– Monday, 10th of September 2012, 7.30 p.m.
Esterházy Palace , Haydnhal
I Musici di Roma
Gábor Boldoczki, trumpet
J. Haydn: Divertimento E flat major, Hob.II:6
G. Torellli: Concerto for trumpet D major
A. Vivaldi: "Autumn" from "The four seasons" Op.8 No.3
A. Vivaldi: Concerto for trumpet F major Op.3 No.3, RV 310G. Rossini: Serenade for strings No.1 G major
G. Donizetti: Concertino for trumpet G major
– Tuesday, 11th of September 2011, 11.00 a.m.
Esterházy Palace , Empirehall
Armonico Tributo Austria
Andreas Pilger, violin, viola
Lorenz Duftschmid, baryton, viola da gamba
Ulrike Becker, basso di viola, cello
J. Haydn: Barytontrio G major, Hob.XI:102
G. Schenck: Solopartita a minor "L´Ecco dell´ Danubio"
L. Tomasini: Divertimento No.15 G major
A. Lidl: Sonata I D major
J. Haydn: Barytontrio D major, Hob.XI:52– Tuesday, 11th of September 2011, 7.30 p.m.
Esterházy Palace, Haydnhall
Wiener Concert-Verein
Mischa Maisky, Violoncello
J. Haydn: Notturno No.1 for two Lire organizzate C major, Hob.II:25
G. Donizetti: Concertino for oboe and orchestra F major
J. Haydn: Symphony No.30 C major "Alleluja"G. Donizetti: Concertino for flute and orchestra C major
J. Haydn: Cello concerto C major, Hob.VIIb:1– Wednesday, 12th of September 2012, 7.30 p.m.
Esterházy Palace , Haydnhall
Austrian-Hungarian Haydn Orchestra
Chen Reiss, Soprano
Stephanie Houtzeel, Soprano
Marlin Miller, Tenor
Paul Armin Edelmann, Bariton
Adam Fischer, conductor
J. Haydn: 'L'isola disabitata", Azione teatrale in due parti according to the text of Pietro Metastasio, Hob. XXVIII:9 – concertante
– Thursday, 13th of September 2012, 7.30 p.m.
Esterházy palace, Haydnhall
Kammerorchester Basel
Patricia Kopatchinskaja, violin
L. Boccherini: Sinfonia d minor Op.12 No.4 "La casa del diavolo"
J. Haydn: Concert for violin G major, Hob.VIIa:4
A. Salieri: Sinfonia D major "La Veneziana"
J. Haydn: Symphony No.55 E flat major "Il maestro di scuola"– Friday, 14th of September 2012, 11.00 a.m.
Bergkirche
Le Musiche Nove
Claudio Osele, conductor
J.A. Hasse: Sinfonia from the serenate "Marc Antoni e Cleopatra"
N. Porpora: "Dixit Dominus" for four singing voices and orchestra C major
J. Haydn: Concert for violin and organ F major, Hob.XVIII:6
J. Haydn: Salve Regina g minor, Hob.XXIII:b– Friday, 14th of September 2012, 7.30 p.m.
Esterházy Palace, Haydnhall
Academy of Ancient Music
Bernard Labadie, conductor
J. Haydn: Symphony No.24 D major
J. Haydn: Symphony No.53 D major "L'imperale"
J. Haydn: Lira Concerto F major, Hob.VIIh:5
W.A. Mozart: Symphony No.10 G major, KV 74
J. Haydn: Symphony No.89 F major– Saturday, 15th of September 2012, 11.00 a.m.
Esterházy Palace , Empirehall
Piccolo Concerto Wien
L. Boccherini: String quintet Op.39 No.1 B flat major
J. Haydn: Divertimento F major, Hob.III:10
J. Haydn: Divertimento B flat major, Hob.III:12
L. Boccherini: String quintet Op.39 No.2 F major– Saturday, 15th of September 2012, 7.30 p.m.
Esterházy Palace , Haydnhall
La Sfera Armoniosa
Simone Kermes, Soprano
Sonia Prina, Contralto
Mike Fentross, conductor
Overture, arias and duets of operas from
G.F. Handel: "Agrippina", "Ottone, Re di Germania"
N. Porpora: "Agrippina", Germanico in Germania", Mitridate"
J. Haydn: "Armida", Il mondo della luna", L'Anima del filosofo"– Sunday, 16th of September 2012, 9.00 a.m.
Eisenstadt, Dom
Choir and Orchestra Dommusik St. Martin
Thomas Dolezal, conductor
M. Haydn: Missa Sancti Hieronymi
– Sunday, 16th of September 2012 11:00 a.m. & 3:00 p.m.
Esterházy Palace, Haydnhall
Austrian-Hungarian Haydn Orchestra
Daniel Ottensamer, clarinet
Adam Fischer, conductor
G. Verdi: Prelude of "La Traviata"
G. Rossini: Overture of "L'Italiana in Algeri"
G. Rossini: Variations for clarinet and orchestra C majorP. Mascagni: Intermezzo of “Cavalleria rusticana”
G. Donizetti: Concertino for clarinet
G. Rossinni: Overture of “Il barbiere di Siviglia”
J. Haydn: Symphony No.101 D major "The clock"
subject to alterations
Tickets & information:
HAYDN FESTSPIELE EISENSTADT
Artistic Director: Dr. Walter Reicher
Esterházy Palace, A-7000 Eisenstadt
T: +43 (0)2682 61866
office@haydnfestival.at
www.haydnfestival.at
13th Rosetti-Festival
- Click here to read the program for this years festival.
New Esterházy Quartet Upcoming Events
-
he separate members of the New Esterházy Quartet have a busy week
during the upcoming Berkeley Festival and Exhibition (June 4–11). In
addition to our own Main Stage Concert on Friday late afternoon (for
details read on!) we will be playing in concerts as diverse as the
Second Biennial Bay Area Baroque Orchestra Pro-Am concert on Monday, Remembering Gustav Leonhardt Friday
early afternoon, the American Bach Soloists’ concert Friday evening, and
the Voices of Music concert Saturday late afternoon. For complete
details on these and other BerFex events, please consult: http://berkeley-festival.org/
But it is on late Friday afternoon, June 8, that the New Esterházy Quartet will play together, presenting a set of three Haydn quartets known and already enjoyed in America 200 years ago. It is an amazing and little-known part of our musical heritage that one of the numerous dissident religious groups to come to the New World in search of religious freedom was also made up of ardent lovers of music, instrumental as well as vocal. The Moravian Brotherhood, originating with the much-persecuted followers of Jan Hus in the 15th century, settled in Pennsylvania and North Carolina and brought with them a belief that playing music together is an activity not only for the Sabbath but one that honors to God in any situation. For them the sacred and profane did not inhabit separate worlds, and thus along with hymns and anthems for their services, quartets by Haydn for enjoyment at home are to be found in their archives.
Haydn in America—The Moravian Heritage will be performed in St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, 2300 Bancroft Way in Berkeley at 5pm, Friday, June 8.
Click here to purchase tickets or phone 510/642-9988.
Through the courtesy of the Moravian Music Foundation and its Director, Dr. Nola Reed Knouse, the New Esterházy Quartet have prepared their performances from copies of 18th century manuscripts copied by members of the Moravian Brotherhood, as well as an early edition brought by them to America in the 18th century. A program of another three quartets from the Moravian Archives is nearing release as a compact disc—we hope to have it ready for sale at the concert.Chamber Music Workshop!
The New Esterhazy Quartet is pleased to present the first annual Classical Workshop hosted by the San Francisco Early Music Society! We will coach and play with participants of all ages and levels in the ceaselessly wonderful repertoire of Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven and their contemporaries.
Each day the participants will be assigned a new ensemble and new music. There will be a rehearsal and a coaching in the morning and in the afternoon, and each evening we will present then day's music in a very informal concert. There will be time for practice, for private coaching and for chamber music reading every day.We hope you will join us in this new, exciting workshop! It is sure to be fantastically fun!
Open to string players only in this inaugural year.June 17 to 23, 2012
Click here to learn more and to sign up!In other news,
those of you who heard Haydn’s Seven Last Words in February will be happy to learn that a recording of the Saturday performance will soon be available for purchase. Furthermore, with a subscription to our next season at a discounted rate, you will get a copy of this CD absolutely free. Please click here for a subscription form. Those who have already subscribed will receive their free CD shortly. If you don’t have it by the end of June, please contact us.
Hoping to see you next month, at our concert and at our Chamber Music Workshop, and at our concerts next season. We wish you a happy and musical summer!
The Sebastians with Paul Wal Win Cho October 20th
-
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
October 1st, 2012PRESS CONTACT:
Salon/Sanctuary Concerts
press@salonsanctuaryconcerts.org
(347) 229-6968On Saturday, October 20th, 2012 at 8:00pm, Salon/Sanctuary Concerts presents
CLASSICAL PORTRAITS
THE SEBASTIANS WITH PAUL WON JIN CHO, CLARINET SOLOISTDATE/TIME:
Saturday, October 20th 2012
8:00pmLOCATION:
The Liederkranz Foundation
6 East 87th Street
New York, NY 10128ADMISSION:
$30/$25 seniors, students, & EMARESERVATIONS:
http://www.salonsanctuaryconcerts.org
1 888 718-4253Program
CPE Bach, Symphony in E minor Wq 178
Mozart, Clarinet Concerto in A major K 622
J. Haydn Symphony No. 79 in F
Mozart, Symphony No. 40 in G minor, KV. 550Artists
Praised for their “well-thought-out articulation and phrasing” (Early Music Review) and “elegant string playing… immaculate in tuning and balance” (Early Music Today), The Sebastians specialize in music of the Baroque and Classical eras and newly commissioned works for period instruments. This month, they will perform as finalists of the 2012 Early Music America Baroque Performance Competition and semi-finalists of the 2012 Concert Artists Guild Victor Elmaleh Competition. They were also finalists in the 2011 York International Early Music Competition and the 2011 Early Music America/Naxos Recording Competition. For the tricentennial of the publication of Antonio Vivaldi’s L’Estro Armonico, The Sebastians commissioned composer Robert Honstein to write a companion suite, which they premiered alongside Vivaldi’s work in December 2011. The suite will receive its New York premiere in November 2013 at Columbia University’s Italian Academy. This past season they presented a series of thematic concerts as artists-in-residence at Emanuel Lutheran Church in Manchester, CT. They were recently named the residence ensemble at All Angels’ Church in New York City. They have participated in the Carnegie Hall Professional Training Workshop with L’Arpeggiata and performed at Music Matters at LaGrua Center in Stonington, CT, Friends of Music at Pequot Library in Southport, CT, Juilliard in Aiken in Aiken, SC., and in the Twelfth Night Festival and Concerts@One at Trinity Wall Street in New York City.
Clarinetist Paul Won Jin Cho, a member of the 2012 ACJW academy, studied at the University of Southern California under Yehuda Gilad and at Yale University with David Shifrin. He has earned the Leni Fe Bland Music Scholarship, Koussevitzky Young Artists Award, Nyfenger Memorial Prize, and The Dean’s Prize at Yale University. Paul has also won awards at Yale’s Woolsey Hall Concerto Competition and Korea’s Donga Competition. He has performed as a soloist with the Suwon Philharmonic Orchestra, Torrance Symphony, and Yale Philharmonia. Paul has also appeared with the New Haven Symphony, Singapore Symphony, and Suwon Philharmonic orchestra under such conductors as Rafael Fruhbeck de Burgos, Myung-whun Chung, Placido Domingo, James Levine, and Kent Nagano. He has participated in the Aldeburgh, Menton, Tanglewood, and Riva del Garda music festivals, as well as others in East Asia, including the 2010 Great Mountains Music Festival.
Salon/Sanctuary Concerts has been praised by Time Out NY for “impeccably curated early-music performances in intimate historical venues,” and by MusicWeb International: “It is a rare occurrence at any concert or opera when every possible aspect of the performance experience succeeds completely. I am not simply referring to the musicians, concert hall or instruments but to the gestalt: the unified whole that makes the sum greater than all of its parts.” Founded by Artistic Director Jessica Gould in 2009, Salon/Sanctuary Concerts offers the special chance to hear pre-Romantic music in intimate venues that complement the historical context of the repertoire. Pleased to present special projects that cast a light on historical issues through the prism of music, Salon/Sanctuary takes pride in many special interdisciplinary performances featuring luminaries from the worlds of opera, theater, film, and dance. The series has garnered critical praise for its innovative programming, and continues to attract a diverse audience for its path breaking offerings.
"Pages Torn from Hoffmeister" Presented by The New Esterházy Quartet
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The January New Esterházy Quartet Newsletter
Our next Concert: Pages Torn from Hoffmeister
Thanks to all who attended our "Grand Concert Symphonique" concerts this past weekend. To read what another listener thought of the concert, click here for a review in the San Francisco Examiner.
Please join us again next month to hear music that first appeared in a magazine. Franz Anton Hoffmeister, a Viennese composer, publisher, and all-round musical entrepreneur issued periodical chamber music collections for subscribers. When a new issue arrived, you would remove the parts necessary for your next quartet party. For our quartet parties on February 2 in San Francisco and February 3 in Palo Alto, we have torn from Hoffmeister's pages two pieces that have long outlived their first appearance as magazine articles—Haydn’s Quartet Op. 42 in D minor and Mozart’s Quartet in D major, K. 499. The program opens with Hoffmeister’s own Quartet in F minor, which appeared in the same issue as Haydn's.
For tickets click here, for further details please keep reading in this Newsletter.
Franz Anton Hoffmeister: Quartet in F minor
Haydn: Quartet in D minor, Op. 42
Mozart: Quartet in D, K. 499
Saturday, February 2, 2013 at 4pm in San Francisco
Sunday, February 3, 2013 at 4pm, in Palo Alto
The New Esterhazy Quartet is pleased to announce its Second Annual Classical Workshop! We will be returning to St. Albert's Priory in the Rockridge neighborhood of Oakland for a intensive week of Chamber Music for Strings. The dates are June 23–29, 2013 and we encourage string players of all ages and levels to join in our exploration of the Viennese Masters and their contemporaries.
For more information, send us an email and Kati or Bill will get back to you.
Some have asked why we sit the way we do, "inside out". The short answer is that we usually sit as string quartets and orchestras normally sat until less than a century ago, with the two upper voices (violinists Lisa & Kati) opposite each other in stereo, the top (Kati or Lisa, whoever is playing first violin) and the bottom (Bill on cello) next to each other on the left, the middle voices (Kati or Lisa, whoever is playing second violin & Anthony on viola) next to each other on the right, and the lower voices (Anthony & Bill) projecting from behind. But this season, we are experimenting with yet another, this time non-standard, seating. We put the back row in front, to strengthen the lower voices and to allow the violinists to sit closer to one another. Please feel free after the concert to let us know if this new seating made any difference to your listening experience.Program Notes for Pages Torn from Hoffmeister
Listeners of a certain age might remember “record clubs”—periodically recordings would arrive in the mail at your front door for enjoyment on whatever device you had that could play them back. But before the twentieth century, if you wanted music in your home you would have to make it yourself. And the same entrepreneurial spirit that created the Columbia Record Club and the Musical Heritage Society flowed through Telemann, whose Getreue Musikmeister came out every two weeks beginning in 1728, offering new music by Telemann, Keiser, Pezold, Görner, Bonporti, Zelenka, Ritter, and Stoltzer for home consumption.
Like Telemann in Hamburg some two generations before, Franz Anton Hoffmeister in Vienna was a tireless composer, publisher, and promoter. He announced his intention in 1785 “to lay before lovers of music a plan, according to which they can purchase an entire library of original music over the course of several years…to this end I have already made agreements with our best local composers, Haydn, Mozart, Wanhall, Albrechtsberger, Pleyel, Mitscha, v. Ordonnez &c, as well as foreign masters, together with my own works, to receive new products from month to month.” He offered three subscription services, catering to players of keyboard instruments, the flute, and of string chamber music. Naturally, he composed in all these genres, and his subscribers received packets of music well larded with his own compositions, one of which opens our program.
But it is significant that in his prospectus the first names he mentions as among the “best local composers” are Haydn and Mozart. A review from 1786 of Hoffmeister’s Praenumeration pour le Forte Piano ou Clavecin writes that “the first four monthly installments of this periodic music collection include quartets, terzetts, sonatas for four hands, fugues, concertos, and variations by Albrechtsberger, Mozart, Haydn, Wanhall, and Hoffmeister, easy and difficult, galant and serious pieces…The best in the collection is a terzett by Haydn; then Mozart’s compositions.” The reviewer goes on to suggest that “the volumes could be very interesting if in future the editor is more careful in the selection of works…”
In spite of the reviewer’s snarky comment, Hoffmeister did well in selecting the pieces we lay before you in our program. In 1785, when he first offered his subscriptions, Joseph Haydn was already famed throughout Europe as a master, and the D minor Quartet, Op. 42 is, in the words of Hans Keller, “a miracle within the miracle that is his output of great string quartets.” Its inclusion in Hoffmeister’s magazine helps to explain why it exists in isolation, unlike Haydn’s other quartets, grouped together in batches of 3 or 6. It has been speculated that it was part of a set of quartets “intended for Spain” that Haydn mentioned in a letter written in 1784, but other than this mention, no trace of these “Spanish” quartets has ever turned up.
While we are speculating on the isolation of Op. 42, it should be pointed out that Haydn did not have the unmitigated self-confidence that is characteristic of some casts of genius. He was acutely sensitive to the efforts of rivals and generally declined to meet them head-on in competition. Toward the end of his life he yielded the field to Beethoven in writing symphonies and string quartets, and earlier he wrote no piano concertos after the appearance of Mozart’s. He said that one of the advantages of working for decades out in the boonies at Esterházy was that “there was no one to bother me” which we can take to mean there was no one to be set up as a rival, as was done by the press in London with his friend and former student Pleyel. Thus, Op. 42 of 1785 stands alone between the Six Quartets, Op. 33, of 1781 and the six of Op. 50 from 1787. Could the publication of Mozart’s set of six quartets also in 1785 have created some temporary uncertainty in the older man to whom those quartets were dedicated?
Wolfgang Mozart’s Quartet, K. 499, too, sits in solitary splendor between his six “Haydn” Quartets (heard in our 4th & 5th seasons) and his last three “Prussian” Quartets. Only through its nickname—“The Hoffmeister”—has its publisher retained any renown into the present age. Mozart’s Quartet is substantial in ambition and scope, no mere magazine article. A German review published just a week before Mozart’s death states that it was “written with that fire of the imagination and that correctness, which long since won for Herr M. the reputation of one of the best composers in Germany.”
Hoffmeister had more than just a casual relationship with Mozart. He was the first publisher of over a dozen of Mozart’s works, including sonatas and rondos for piano, violin sonatas, four-hand works, a piano trio and a piano quartet. Furthermore, he was the guarantor for one of the many loans Mozart took out in his last years to tide him over from one commission to the next. And in the official inventory made of Mozart’s printed books and music on his death, item 67 (of 73 total) gets by far the highest valuation—a folder of 22 pieces of “Musickpränumeration Hofmeisterishe”.Graphic: Mozart's autograph of his Quartet, K499, end of third movement and beginning of finaleDon't Forget
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The New Esterházy Quartet
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