Haydn: Symphonies Nos. 27, 28 And 31

Description

Joseph Haydn (1732 -1809)Symphony No.27 in G major / Symphony No.28 in A majorSymphony No.31 in D major ("Hornsignal") Joseph Haydn was born in the village of Rohrau in 1732,the son of a wheelwright. Trained at the choir-school of St Stephen's Cathedralin Vienna, he subsequently spent some years earning a living as best he couldfrom teaching and playing the violin or keyboard, and was able to profit fromassociation with the old composer Porpora, whose assistant he became. Haydn'sfirst appointment was in 1759 as Kapellmeister to a Bohemian nobleman,Count von Morzin, whose kinsman had once served as patron to Vivaldi. This was followedin 1761 by employment as Vice-Kapellmeister to one of the richest men inthe Empire, Prince Paul Anton Esterhazy, succeeded after his death in 1762 by PrinceNicolaus. On the death in 1766 of the elderly and somewhat obstructive KapellmeisterGregor Werner, who had found much to complain about in the professionalism ofhis young and resented deputy, Haydn succeeded to his position, to remain inthe same employment, nominally at least, for the rest of his life. On the completion of the magnificent palace at Esterhazain the Hungarian plains under Prince Nicolaus, Haydn assumed command of anincreased musical establishment. Here he had responsibility for the musicalactivities of the palace, which included the provision and direction ofinstrumental music, opera and music for the theatre, as well as music for the church.For his patron he provided a quantity of chamber music of all kinds,particularly for the Prince's own peculiar instrument, the baryton, a bowedstring instrument with sympathetic strings that could also be plucked. Prince Nicolaus died in 1790 and Haydn found himself ableto accept an invitation to visit London. There he provided music for concertseasons organized by the violinist-impresario Salomon. A second successfulvisit to London in 1794 and 1795 was followed by a return to duty with the Esterhazyfamily, the new head of which had settled principally at the family property inEisenstadt, where Haydn had started his career with them. Much of the year,however, was to be spent in Vienna, where Haydn passed his final years, dyingin 1809, as the French armies of Napoleon approached the city yet again. Haydn lived during the period of the eighteenth centurythat saw the development of instrumental music from the age of Bach and Handelto the era of the classical sonata, with its tripartite first-movement form andcomplementary three or four movements, the basis now of much instrumentalcomposition. The symphony may claim to have become the most important form of orchestralcomposition and owes a great deal, if not its precise paternity, to Haydn. Hefirst attempted such composition some time before 1759 and wrote his last symphoniesfor London in the last decade of the century. Haydn's Symphony No.27 in G major has been definitivelydated by H.C.Robbins Landon, in his monumental study of the composer,