The Danube Music Festival

Great music, great buildings: matching music and place

These festivals combine music and architecture in a singularly beguiling way. All the concerts take place in historic buildings – palaces, abbeys, churches, theatres – which are among the most beautiful, magnificent or charming in Vienna and the Danubian region.

Most are of the same period as the music performed in them, and in some cases there are specific historical associations between the two. Matching music and place – that is the governing principle of these festivals.
 
We have engaged musicians of the highest calibre from Austria, Hungary and the Czech Republic, lands of the former Habsburg Empire whose music these festivals explore. Many are among the leading specialists in their particular field.

Celebrating Haydn

By the time of his death in 1809, Josef Haydn had become the most internationally celebrated composer in history. He had the advantage of relative longevity (he was 77 to Mozart’s 35 and Beethoven’s 56), but the verdict of his contemporaries is amply justified by his exceptional productivity, his innovativeness
and by the quality of his creations: many of his compositions rank among the supreme masterpieces in their category.

There is scarcely a genre in the classical canon to which he did not make a major contribution, and to some – the symphony, the string quartet and the piano trio – he set the course for future developments far beyond his own era and that of his immediate successors.

But too often nowadays Haydn is relegated to the warm-up slot in a concert. These festivals aim to enhance appreciation of his music by removing it from the shadow of the more boisterous and extrovert compositions of the Romantic and later eras.

Haydn’s genius consists of melodic brilliance, extraordinary fecundity of ideas, infinite subtleties and self-effacing cleverness. Even his most expressive moments are tempered with humanity and intelligence. For sheer life affirming beauty he has no rival. Musicians tend to gravitate more and more towards Papa Haydn, though promoters remain wary and mainstream audiences diffident.

‘The Danube Music Festival’ has much by Haydn, but a larger proportion of the music is by others, mainly composers from the lands of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, from JJ Fux to Janáček.

Other composers’ anniversaries

Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy was born in the year that Haydn died, and ‘Haydn in Vienna’ pays due homage by including two major pieces by him. Exhibiting grace, wit and cleverness, Mendelssohn is perhaps the nineteenthcentury composer closest to Haydn.

‘The Danube’ admits a piece by Handel by reason of the 250th anniversary of his death. 1759 was also the birth year of Franz Krommer, a fact which may have passed you by, but you will be delighted by his wind octet in the final concert.

Vienna Imperialis, capital of music

As capital of a vast, multinational agglomeration of territories which after six hundred years of haphazard growth came to encompass much of Central Europe, Vienna is a city of appropriately imperial magnificence and one of the world’s foremost centres of historic art and architecture. There is also much
unspoilt streetscape of charm and unpretentious beauty, the layout revealing its mediaeval or Roman origin.

Moreover, Vienna has been Europe’s most important centre of music for most of the last four hundred years.

A rare intensity of musical communication

The audiences are small, and so are the venues, enabling a closeness to the musicians which engenders a rare intensity of musical communication.

Musicians love playing for these festivals. Not only are the venues an inspiring change from modern concert halls, but the audiences are among the best in the world – attentive, knowledgeable, appreciative.

An important ingredient are the lectures on the music which take place daily. With Roderick Swanston on the ship it would be difficult to do better.

More about the Concerts

Private events. The concerts are planned and administered by Martin Randall Travel, and the audience consists exclusively of those who have taken the full festival package. The concerts are therefore private.

Seating. Specific seats are not reserved. You sit where you want. At small venues the audience is split and the concert performed twice.

Acoustics. This festival is more concerned with authenticity and ambience than acoustical perfection. While some of the venues have excellent acoustics, some have idiosyncrasies not found in modern concert halls.

Changes. Musicians fall ill, venues change their mind, rivers flood (or run dry), the tide turns: there are many unforeseeable circumstances which could necessitate changes to the programme. We ask you to be understanding should they occur. 

THE CONCERTS

Concerts and Performers

Concert 1
Saturday 29th August,morning
Haydn, contemporaries, predecessors

Grein, Stadttheater
Oman Consort
Haydn, Handel, Fux, Sammartini, Boccherini, Vivaldi, Andriessen

The concert presents a picture of the musical world of Haydn’s formative years and the earlier part of his career with a varied programme for small ensemble and virtuoso recorder. Much of the music is associated with Vienna; Haydn would have known personally many of the composers, and would at least have known music by the others.

Dating to 1791, the theatre in Grein is the oldest in Austria. It was constructed to comply with an imperial edict and was squeezed into a granary behind the town hall. With a maximum capacity of 147, it is also probably the smallest in the country.

The Austrian recorder player Michael Oman founded the Oman Consort in 2001 to perform music from the 16th to the 18th centuries. They attempt to emulate practice of the era by giving due place to improvisation, and emphasis is given to the basso continuo group to bring out the pure sound and style of the recorder. They have produced several award-winning CDs.

Concert 2
Saturday 29th August, early evening
Mass setting by Haydn

Melk Abbey, Kolomanisaal
Capella Savaria, Capella Cantorum, Ákos Paulik (conductor), Mária Zádori (soprano), Judit Németh (alto), Zoltán Megyesi (tenor), Krisztián Cser (bass) Mass by Josef Haydn

Occupying an elevated site beside the Danube, Melk Abbey is one of the most brilliant creations of the Age of Baroque. A sequence comprising ceremonial courts, guest apartments, hall and library culminates in a church of unsurpassed decorative richness. The concert takes place in the Kolomanisaal, a hall – once the summer refectory – not normally accessible to visitors which has vault frescoes by Paul Troger (1744).

The main work in this programme, Haydn’s ‘Mass in Time of War’ (or Paukenmesse), was composed in 1796 while French troops were advancing on Vienna. This impassioned, dramatic work can be interpreted as an urgent appeal for peace.

The first half consists of a symphony by CPE Bach and Haydn’s Kleine Orgelsolomesse (‘Little Organ Mass’) of c. 1775. Composed for a mere half-dozen players, this touching little work has a particularly beautiful Benedictus for soprano solo and organ.

Founded in 1981, Capella Savaria is the oldest period-instrument ensemble in Hungary. (‘Savaria’ is the Latin form of Szombathely, their city of origin.) Outstanding for the vigour and verve as well as the authenticity of their playing, they have performed in most countries in Europe as well as in the Americas, and have recorded over 60 CDs. Their regular collaborator, the choir Capella Cantorum is of commensurate excellence.

Concert 3
Sunday 30th August, morning
Austro-Hungarian wind quintets

Schloss Hof, Festsaal quintett.wien
Haydn, Mozart, Takács, Farkas, Stamitz, Ligeti

Schloss Hof was built 1725–30 as a large-scale hunting lodge for Prince Eugene of Savoy and was refurbished a generation later for two offspring of Empress Maria Theresa. Major recent conservation work has returned the main building, the adjacent model farm and the famous terraced gardens to something approaching its original appearance. The ballroom, beautifully decorated in Louis XVI style, is a fine setting for this programme of Austrian, Czech and Hungarian wind music.

One of few wind quintets that perform in the Viennese tradition, quintett.wien was founded in 1994. Their repertoire embraces works from the classical to the contemporary. The members – Hansgeorg Schmeiser (flute), Harald Hörth (oboe), Gerald Pachinger (clarinet), Martin Bramböck (horn) and Maximilian Feyertag (bassoon) – also hold positions in Austria’s leading orchestras and perform as soloists.

Concert 4
Sunday 30th August, evening
String Quartets

Bratislava, Primatial Palace
Wihan Quartet
Haydn, Janáček, Dvořák

Formed in Prague in 1985, and still with the original line-up, the Wihan Quartet is one of the most exciting string quartets to have emerged from the great school of Czech playing in recent years. Now established as one of the world’s leading quartets, they have toured worldwide and made many recordings of the Viennese classics and of the Czech repertoire.

This evening’s programme consists of Haydn’s ‘Lark’ (Quartet in D, op.64/5), Janáček’s Quartet No.1 and Dvořák’s ‘Slavonic’ (op.51 in E flat).

The former residence of the Primate of Hungary and now the town hall, the Primatial Palace is the grandest of the 18th-century buildings in Bratislava. The concert is in the Mirror Hall which rises through
two storeys.

Concert 5
Monday 31st August, evening
Early Haydn, symphonies

Vienna, Liechtenstein Gartenpalais
Wiener Akademie
Roberto Paternostro (conductor)

The Liechtensteins were the wealthiest aristocratic dynasty of the Austro-Hungarian empire and outstanding patrons of art and architecture. One of the grandest residences of the age, their ‘garden palace’ (1691–1711) was created by some of the most talented practitioners of the building arts then working in Central Europe. The splendid Hercules Hall, venue for this concert, has frescoes by Andrea Pozzo, master of Baroque illusionism.

The programme includes three early symphonies by Haydn, the wholly delightful ‘Morning’, ‘Midday’ and ‘Evening’ (Nos. 6, 7 & 8), and the Symphony No. 1 by his older contemporary CPE Bach, whom he greatly admired.
 
The Wiener Akademie was founded in 1985 and has become internationally respected for its unmistakably Austrian musicality, virtuosity and lively interpretation of repertoire ranging from Baroque to early Romantic music played on period instruments. They focus on bringing to light lesser known works alongside masterpieces of the standard repertoire. For many years they have had a regular concert series at the Vienna Musikverein.


Concert 6
Tuesday 1st September, morning
Piano Trios

Fertöd, Kastely Eszterháza
The Haydn Trio Eisenstadt
Haydn & Schubert


A modest hunting lodge was enormously extended and refurbished by Haydn’s employer, Prince Nikolaus ‘the Magnificent’ of Esterházy, to form perhaps the most spectacularly beautiful country house in Central Europe. Ostensibly a summer residence, Nikolaus’ court spent the larger part of the year here, and many of Haydn’s compositions would have been performed for the first time in the beautiful Rococo hall.

Here we hear two piano trios by Haydn, Nos. 27 and 29, and the Trio in E flat major Op. 100 by Schubert, for a while also an Esterházy employee.

The Haydn Trio Eisenstadt – Verena Stourzh (violin), Hannes Gradwohl (cello) and Harald Kosik (piano) – is one of Austria’s leading chamber music ensembles. They have been preparing for Haydn Year 2009 ever since the ensemble was founded in 1992, and during the year will travel the world as musical ambassadors of Josef Haydn’s home region. In 2008 they completed the project of recording his complete piano chamber music oeuvre: 39 piano trios, 429 Scottish songs, divertimenti and concertini, a
total of 28 CDs.

Concert 7
Tuesday 1st September, afternoon
‘The Seasons’

Eisenstadt, Schloss Esterházy
Wiener Kammerchor, Bach Consort Wien
Rubén Dubrovsky (conductor) Cornelia Horak (soprano), Daniel Johannsen (tenor), Josef Wagner (bass – baritone)
Haydn, Die Jahreszeiten

The second of Haydn’s two great, late oratorios, The Seasons was the last major work which Haydn composed. Its composition at the height of his maturity owed much to his London visits: hearing Handel’s Messiah was profoundly inspiring, and the text for The Seasons was based on James Thompson’s poem of the same name.

Eisenstadt, an attractive country town to the south-east of Vienna, is dominated by a vast 17th-century mansion, the principal seat of the Esterházy family, for whom Josef Haydn was the Kapellmeister for most of his career. It was in the Great Hall of Schloss Esterházy in Eisenstadt that many of Haydn’s works were first performed, and it still retains the wooden floor that Haydn insisted be laid on the marble original for acoustical reasons.

Formed in 1999, the Bach Consort Wien has found its artistic home in Vienna’s Musikverein where it regularly performs as the house ensemble in the Early Music cycle. Abroad, they have performed at festivals in Germany, Spain, Portugal and Croatia, and future travel plans include Switzerland, Italy and France. The soloists are all very well known in Austria in the opera house and on the concert platform, while the Wiener Kammerchor is one of Austria’s finest choirs with regular appearances at the Wiener Konzerthaus and the Musikverein amongst others.


Concert 8
Wednesday 2nd September, afternoon
Haydn Benefit Concert, 4th May 1795 in the New Room, King’s Theatre, London

Vienna, Hofburg, Zeremoniensaal
Austro-Hungarian Haydn Philharmonic
Adam Fischer (conductor), Wolfgang Redik (violin), Thomas Höniger (oboe)

Haydn’s Symphonies Nos. 100 (‘Military’) and 104; duet from Orlando Paladino and concert aria ‘Scena di Berenice’ by Haydn; Oboe Concerto by Giuseppe Ferlendis; Violin Concerto by Giovanni Battista Viotti.

This concert is an almost complete reconstruction of a particular event (the benefit in question was Haydn’s: he was awarded the substantial profits), the authenticity extending to the practice of interleaving symphonic movements with other pieces.

Freed from almost feudal servitude by the death in 1790 of his employer Prince Nikolaus I Esterházy, Haydn was soon on his way to London for the first of two visits, each lasting around eighteen months. Measured by the quantity of musical events, their variety, cosmopolitanism and funding, London was at the time the leading centre for music in Europe. Haydn was fêted as a celebrity, his concert series were immensely successful, and he returned to Vienna a wealthy man.

Embedded within the Hofburg and rarely accessible to the public, the ‘Hall of Ceremonies’ is the grandest hall in Vienna, magnificently embellished with Corinthian columns.

The Austro-Hungarian Haydn Philharmonic was founded by Adam Fischer in 1987 to bring together outstanding musicians from both countries. It has recorded Haydn’s complete symphonies in Schloss Esterházy in Eisenstadt and has acquired an international reputation as one of the most spirited and sensitive interpreters of the Viennese classics. They have toured widely, with repeated appearances at the Mostly Mozart festival in New York, the BBC Proms in London and the Mozart Festival in Salzburg.



Concert 9
Thursday 3rd September, afternoon
Grand Wind Finale

Abbey of St. Florian, Sala Terrena
Collegium Viennense
Krommer, Smetana, Mozart

Founded in the eighth century, the Abbey of St Florian became one of the richest in the Austrian Empire. Wholesale rebuilding took place between 1686 and 1751, Austria’s great period of political and military confidence and architectural ambition. The concert takes place in a room whose decoration shows that it has always been used for making music.

Collegium Viennense was founded by musicians from several Austrian orchestras brought up in the Viennese tradition of wind music performance. Through tours and CDs they have become acknowledged as the leading ensemble for the repertoire.

Bohemia was the source of much Austro-Hungarian wind music, and this is celebrated in this programme with an octet by Franz Krommer (born in 1759; another anniversary) and music from Smetana’s Bartered Bride. The second half consists of Mozart’s Gran Partita; thirteen players perform the grandest and most moving piece of wind music ever composed.    

PRACTICALITIES

The Ship
The Amadeus Classic is one of the more comfortable cruisers on the waterways of Europe. The multi-national crew is dedicated to the highest standards of service.

With a minimum floor area of 15 square metres the cabins are reasonably spacious by the standards of river cruisers. All have windows to the outside and are equipped with the facilities one would expect of a first-class hotel including shower, w.c., individually adjustable airconditioning, telephone, TV and safe. Special attention has been paid to noise insulation to ensure quiet, even when under way.

There are four suites with approximately 22 square metres of floor which have a sofa, table and armchair, a bath, minibar and safe.

In layout and furnishings the other cabins on all three decks are identical, the differences being the size of windows and height above water level (higher cabins enjoy marginally better views and fewer stairs). Cabins on the upper (‘Mozart’) and middle (‘Strauss’) decks have large windows (149 x 95 cm) except cabins 203, 204 and 206 which have round windows (diameter: 93 cm). Cabins on the lowest (‘Haydn’) deck have smaller windows (150 x 50 cm). There are no single cabins but we are allocating some two-bed cabins for single occupancy.

The public areas on the upper deck include the lounge and bar, a library area and a restaurant which can seat everyone at a single sitting. The sun deck has a small heated pool and a tented area for shade.

Information about the ship is available at www.lueftner-cruises.at



















Prices

Prices, which vary according to cabin type, include all the concerts, all meals with drinks, flights from the UK (optional) and much else.

Haydn (lowest) Deck: £2,780 per person sharing a cabin, single occupancy £3,370.

Strauss (middle) Deck: £3,170 per person sharing a cabin, single occupancy £3,830.

Mozart (top) Deck: £3,500 per person sharing, single occupancy £4,220.

Suites (Mozart Deck): £3,980 per person.

Flights from Manchester have a supplement of £120 per person.

No-flights option: if you do not want one of the festival flights, subtract £150 from these prices.         

MORE DETAILS

The Daily Programme

Day 1: Travelling to Passau Flights from the UK. We are offering a choice of four scheduled Lufthansa flights to Munich, from Manchester and London. It may be possible to arrange connecting flights with bmi (British Midland) from Edinburgh; please enquire. Connections from other regional airports were
not scheduled at the time of going to press.

Option 1. Fly from London Heathrow to Munich at c. 9.30 am. Break the journey to Passau with lunch at Landshut, a former capital of Bavaria. There are two or three hours here, and it should be possible to see the main street with its Renaissance and Baroque house fronts, the great Gothic church of St Martin or the precociously Italianate Renaissance ducal palace. (LH 4751, departing London 09.35 arriving Munich 12.20.)

Option 2. Fly from London Heathrow to Munich at c. 11.00 am. Drive directly from Munich Airport to the ship at Passau, a journey of under two hours. (LH 4753, departing London 11.05, arriving Munich 13.50.)

Option 3. Fly from Manchester to Munich at c. 11.15 am (there is a supplement of £120 for this flight). Drive from Munich Airport to the ship at Passau, a journey of under two hours. (LH 4861, departing Manchester 11.15, arriving Munich 14.15.)

Option 4. You can choose not to take any of these flights and to make your own arrangements for joining at Passau, boarding the ship between 4.00 pm. and 6.00 pm. There is a price reduction of £150 for this. You are welcome to join one of the group transfers from Munich Airport.

Passau
MS Amadeus Classic is ready for boarding from 4.00 pm. Afternoon tea is available.

Piled up on promontories at the confluence of three rivers, the Bavarian city of Passau is dominated by a great Baroque cathedral and crammed with unspoilt streetscape and historic buildings. It was one of the most important episcopal seats in Central Europe and served as a refuge for the Habsburg court in times of danger.

After sailing at 6.45 pm there is an introductory talk, a reception and dinner.

Day 2 Grein, Melk: Moor at Grein, a picturesque little town squeezed between the Danube and the hills with a 16th-century Schloss rising to one side. It is a short walk to the main square where the 1791 theatre lies hidden behind the town hall.

The first concert is here with the Oman Consort: chamber music by Haydn and some of his predecessors and contemporaries.

Sail downstream after the concert and moor at Melk. Dramatically situated on an outcrop rising above the Danube, Melk Abbey is one of Europe’s greatest Baroque creations and venue for the second concert: Capella Savaria and Capella Cantorum perform Mass settings by Haydn.

Sail downstream overnight from Melk to Hainburg.

Day 3 Schloss Hof, Bratislava: Moor at Hainburg, a picturesque town where Josef Haydn went to school. Drive across the Danube to the Marchfeld, a broad plain which, despite its proximity to two capitals, Vienna and Bratislava, remains stubbornly agricultural. A range of hills to the east marks the border with Slovakia, formerly part of Hungary.

Schloss Hof, a grand 18th-century hunting lodge situated on a wooded hillock, is the setting for the third concert: wind quintets from Austria-Hungary performed by quintett.wien.

Return to the ship for lunch and sail downstream to Bratislava, since 1993 the capital of the Republic of Slovakia and, during the Ottoman occupation, capital (then known as Pressburg) of the Christian rump of Hungary. With its well-restored streets and squares and fine palaces, it is one of the most attractive of Danubian towns. There is some free time here before an early pre-concert dinner.

The fourth concert, with the Wihan Quartet, takes place in the evening at the former Archiepiscopal Palace: string quartets by Haydn, Janáček and Dvořák.

Moor overnight in Bratislava.

Day 4 Vienna: Sail at 6.30 am from Bratislava to Nussdorf, one of Vienna’s Danube ports.

Principal seat of the Habsburgs for over six hundred years, Vienna became capital of a vast agglomeration of territories which encompassed much of Central and Eastern Europe. The city duly acquired magnificence appropriate to its imperial status, but tucked behind the aristocratic palaces and the mighty institutional edifices there remain streets and alleys of unpretentious charm.

In the morning there is a visit to the Liechtenstein ‘Garden’ Palace, one of the grandest Baroque palaces in Central Europe. Still owned by the family, it has recently been restored to display what is perhaps the finest art collection in Continental Europe in private hands. Coaches continue into the centre of Vienna for those who would rather have free time.

The afternoon is free; shuttle buses ply between the ship and the centre of Vienna.

For the fifth concert, return to the Liechtenstein Gartenpalais where the Wiener Akademie plays symphonies by Haydn and CPE Bach.

Return to the ship for dinner and moor overnight at Nussdorf.

Day 5 Eszterháza, Eisenstadt: Drive into Hungary and to Eszterháza (now Fertöd), summer residence of Prince Nikolaus of Esterházy and hence Haydn’s principal place of work for nearly thirty years. Perhaps the most spectacularly beautiful country house in Central Europe, this late-Rococo and early-Neoclassical confection is gradually being restored to its former glory.

Eszterháza is the venue for the sixth concert: the Haydn Trio Eisenstadt performs piano trios by Haydn and Schubert.

Lunch is provided here under a grove of horse chestnuts (or indoors in the event of inclement weather).

Drive to Eisenstadt, an attractive country town south-east of Vienna. Dominating the townscape is a vast 17th-century mansion, the principal seat of the Esterházy family. The Great Hall of the Schloss saw the première of many of Haydn’s orchestral works, and still retains the wooden floor that Haydn insisted be laid on the marble original for acoustical reasons.

The seventh concert is Haydn’s The Seasons, performed in the Great Hall of Schloss Esterházy.

Return to the ship for dinner and remain moored at Vienna-Nussdorf overnight.

Day 6 Vienna: Free morning. Again, shuttle buses are provided between the ship and the centre of Vienna, and there is the option of a guided tour. Among the many museums are the Kunsthistorisches
Museum, one of the world’s finest art galleries, the Imperial Treasury in the Hofburg and the Leopold Collection with works from the turn of the 20th century.

The eighth concert is held in the Hofburg, the Habsburg Palace in the centre of Vienna. The programme is a reconstruction of a Haydn benefit concert in London in 1795.

Return to the ship for dinner and sail upstream overnight.

Day 7 St Florian: Sail all morning through one of the most attractive stretches of the Austrian Danube before mooring at Linz, capital of Upper Austria. From here drive the short distance to the Abbey of St Florian. Almost entirely rebuilt between 1686 and 1751, it is one of the largest and most glorious of Baroque monasteries.

The ninth concert is at St Florian: Collegium Viennense performs wind pieces by Krommer, Smetana and Mozart.

Sail upstream from Linz to Passau, with a reception and dinner against a backdrop of wooded hills which gradually slips into the night.

Day 8 Passau, Munich: The ship arrives at Passau c. 8.00 am, and coaches leave for Munich city centre and the airport between 9.00 and 9.30 am.

Option 1. Those who flew from Heathrow at c. 9.30 am join a return flight which is scheduled to arrive in London at c. 2.15 pm. Coaches take you directly from Passau to Munich Airport. (LH 4756, departing
Munich 13.20, arriving London 14.20.)

Option 2. Those who flew from Heathrow at c. 11.00 am join a return flight which is scheduled to arrive in London at c. 7.15 pm. Coaches take you first to the centre of Munich, where you have about five hours of free time, before continuing to the airport. (LH 4762, departing Munich 18.20, arriving London 19.20.)

Option 3. Those flying to Manchester have about two hours in the centre of Munich before being taken to the airport. The flight is due to arrive at Manchester International Airport at c. 4.30 pm. (LH 4864, departing Munich 15.30, arriving Manchester 16.35.)

Option 4. Those who have made their own flight arrangements are welcome to join one of the transfers to Munich and the airport.
  

BOOKING

Concerts and Performers

Concert 1
Saturday 29th August,morning
Haydn, contemporaries, predecessors

Grein, Stadttheater
Oman Consort
Haydn, Handel, Fux, Sammartini, Boccherini, Vivaldi, Andriessen

The concert presents a picture of the musical world of Haydn’s formative years and the earlier part of his career with a varied programme for small ensemble and virtuoso recorder. Much of the music is associated with Vienna; Haydn would have known personally many of the composers, and would at least have known music by the others.

Dating to 1791, the theatre in Grein is the oldest in Austria. It was constructed to comply with an imperial edict and was squeezed into a granary behind the town hall. With a maximum capacity of 147, it is also probably the smallest in the country.

The Austrian recorder player Michael Oman founded the Oman Consort in 2001 to perform music from the 16th to the 18th centuries. They attempt to emulate practice of the era by giving due place to improvisation, and emphasis is given to the basso continuo group to bring out the pure sound and style of the recorder. They have produced several award-winning CDs.

Concert 2
Saturday 29th August, early evening
Mass setting by Haydn

Melk Abbey, Kolomanisaal
Capella Savaria, Capella Cantorum, Ákos Paulik (conductor), Mária Zádori (soprano), Judit Németh (alto), Zoltán Megyesi (tenor), Krisztián Cser (bass) Mass by Josef Haydn

Occupying an elevated site beside the Danube, Melk Abbey is one of the most brilliant creations of the Age of Baroque. A sequence comprising ceremonial courts, guest apartments, hall and library culminates in a church of unsurpassed decorative richness. The concert takes place in the Kolomanisaal, a hall – once the summer refectory – not normally accessible to visitors which has vault frescoes by Paul Troger (1744).

The main work in this programme, Haydn’s ‘Mass in Time of War’ (or Paukenmesse), was composed in 1796 while French troops were advancing on Vienna. This impassioned, dramatic work can be interpreted as an urgent appeal for peace.

The first half consists of a symphony by CPE Bach and Haydn’s Kleine Orgelsolomesse (‘Little Organ Mass’) of c. 1775. Composed for a mere half-dozen players, this touching little work has a particularly beautiful Benedictus for soprano solo and organ.

Founded in 1981, Capella Savaria is the oldest period-instrument ensemble in Hungary. (‘Savaria’ is the Latin form of Szombathely, their city of origin.) Outstanding for the vigour and verve as well as the authenticity of their playing, they have performed in most countries in Europe as well as in the Americas, and have recorded over 60 CDs. Their regular collaborator, the choir Capella Cantorum is of commensurate excellence.

Concert 3
Sunday 30th August, morning
Austro-Hungarian wind quintets

Schloss Hof, Festsaal quintett.wien
Haydn, Mozart, Takács, Farkas, Stamitz, Ligeti

Schloss Hof was built 1725–30 as a large-scale hunting lodge for Prince Eugene of Savoy and was refurbished a generation later for two offspring of Empress Maria Theresa. Major recent conservation work has returned the main building, the adjacent model farm and the famous terraced gardens to something approaching its original appearance. The ballroom, beautifully decorated in Louis XVI style, is a fine setting for this programme of Austrian, Czech and Hungarian wind music.

One of few wind quintets that perform in the Viennese tradition, quintett.wien was founded in 1994. Their repertoire embraces works from the classical to the contemporary. The members – Hansgeorg Schmeiser (flute), Harald Hörth (oboe), Gerald Pachinger (clarinet), Martin Bramböck (horn) and Maximilian Feyertag (bassoon) – also hold positions in Austria’s leading orchestras and perform as soloists.

Concert 4
Sunday 30th August, evening
String Quartets

Bratislava, Primatial Palace
Wihan Quartet
Haydn, Janáček, Dvořák

Formed in Prague in 1985, and still with the original line-up, the Wihan Quartet is one of the most exciting string quartets to have emerged from the great school of Czech playing in recent years. Now established as one of the world’s leading quartets, they have toured worldwide and made many recordings of the Viennese classics and of the Czech repertoire.

This evening’s programme consists of Haydn’s ‘Lark’ (Quartet in D, op.64/5), Janáček’s Quartet No.1 and Dvořák’s ‘Slavonic’ (op.51 in E flat).

The former residence of the Primate of Hungary and now the town hall, the Primatial Palace is the grandest of the 18th-century buildings in Bratislava. The concert is in the Mirror Hall which rises through
two storeys.

Concert 5
Monday 31st August, evening
Early Haydn, symphonies

Vienna, Liechtenstein Gartenpalais
Wiener Akademie
Roberto Paternostro (conductor)

The Liechtensteins were the wealthiest aristocratic dynasty of the Austro-Hungarian empire and outstanding patrons of art and architecture. One of the grandest residences of the age, their ‘garden palace’ (1691–1711) was created by some of the most talented practitioners of the building arts then working in Central Europe. The splendid Hercules Hall, venue for this concert, has frescoes by Andrea Pozzo, master of Baroque illusionism.

The programme includes three early symphonies by Haydn, the wholly delightful ‘Morning’, ‘Midday’ and ‘Evening’ (Nos. 6, 7 & 8), and the Symphony No. 1 by his older contemporary CPE Bach, whom he greatly admired.
 
The Wiener Akademie was founded in 1985 and has become internationally respected for its unmistakably Austrian musicality, virtuosity and lively interpretation of repertoire ranging from Baroque to early Romantic music played on period instruments. They focus on bringing to light lesser known works alongside masterpieces of the standard repertoire. For many years they have had a regular concert series at the Vienna Musikverein.


Concert 6
Tuesday 1st September, morning
Piano Trios

Fertöd, Kastely Eszterháza
The Haydn Trio Eisenstadt
Haydn & Schubert


A modest hunting lodge was enormously extended and refurbished by Haydn’s employer, Prince Nikolaus ‘the Magnificent’ of Esterházy, to form perhaps the most spectacularly beautiful country house in Central Europe. Ostensibly a summer residence, Nikolaus’ court spent the larger part of the year here, and many of Haydn’s compositions would have been performed for the first time in the beautiful Rococo hall.

Here we hear two piano trios by Haydn, Nos. 27 and 29, and the Trio in E flat major Op. 100 by Schubert, for a while also an Esterházy employee.

The Haydn Trio Eisenstadt – Verena Stourzh (violin), Hannes Gradwohl (cello) and Harald Kosik (piano) – is one of Austria’s leading chamber music ensembles. They have been preparing for Haydn Year 2009 ever since the ensemble was founded in 1992, and during the year will travel the world as musical ambassadors of Josef Haydn’s home region. In 2008 they completed the project of recording his complete piano chamber music oeuvre: 39 piano trios, 429 Scottish songs, divertimenti and concertini, a
total of 28 CDs.

Concert 7
Tuesday 1st September, afternoon
‘The Seasons’

Eisenstadt, Schloss Esterházy
Wiener Kammerchor, Bach Consort Wien
Rubén Dubrovsky (conductor) Cornelia Horak (soprano), Daniel Johannsen (tenor), Josef Wagner (bass – baritone)
Haydn, Die Jahreszeiten

The second of Haydn’s two great, late oratorios, The Seasons was the last major work which Haydn composed. Its composition at the height of his maturity owed much to his London visits: hearing Handel’s Messiah was profoundly inspiring, and the text for The Seasons was based on James Thompson’s poem of the same name.

Eisenstadt, an attractive country town to the south-east of Vienna, is dominated by a vast 17th-century mansion, the principal seat of the Esterházy family, for whom Josef Haydn was the Kapellmeister for most of his career. It was in the Great Hall of Schloss Esterházy in Eisenstadt that many of Haydn’s works were first performed, and it still retains the wooden floor that Haydn insisted be laid on the marble original for acoustical reasons.

Formed in 1999, the Bach Consort Wien has found its artistic home in Vienna’s Musikverein where it regularly performs as the house ensemble in the Early Music cycle. Abroad, they have performed at festivals in Germany, Spain, Portugal and Croatia, and future travel plans include Switzerland, Italy and France. The soloists are all very well known in Austria in the opera house and on the concert platform, while the Wiener Kammerchor is one of Austria’s finest choirs with regular appearances at the Wiener Konzerthaus and the Musikverein amongst others.


Concert 8
Wednesday 2nd September, afternoon
Haydn Benefit Concert, 4th May 1795 in the New Room, King’s Theatre, London

Vienna, Hofburg, Zeremoniensaal
Austro-Hungarian Haydn Philharmonic
Adam Fischer (conductor), Wolfgang Redik (violin), Thomas Höniger (oboe)

Haydn’s Symphonies Nos. 100 (‘Military’) and 104; duet from Orlando Paladino and concert aria ‘Scena di Berenice’ by Haydn; Oboe Concerto by Giuseppe Ferlendis; Violin Concerto by Giovanni Battista Viotti.

This concert is an almost complete reconstruction of a particular event (the benefit in question was Haydn’s: he was awarded the substantial profits), the authenticity extending to the practice of interleaving symphonic movements with other pieces.

Freed from almost feudal servitude by the death in 1790 of his employer Prince Nikolaus I Esterházy, Haydn was soon on his way to London for the first of two visits, each lasting around eighteen months. Measured by the quantity of musical events, their variety, cosmopolitanism and funding, London was at the time the leading centre for music in Europe. Haydn was fêted as a celebrity, his concert series were immensely successful, and he returned to Vienna a wealthy man.

Embedded within the Hofburg and rarely accessible to the public, the ‘Hall of Ceremonies’ is the grandest hall in Vienna, magnificently embellished with Corinthian columns.

The Austro-Hungarian Haydn Philharmonic was founded by Adam Fischer in 1987 to bring together outstanding musicians from both countries. It has recorded Haydn’s complete symphonies in Schloss Esterházy in Eisenstadt and has acquired an international reputation as one of the most spirited and sensitive interpreters of the Viennese classics. They have toured widely, with repeated appearances at the Mostly Mozart festival in New York, the BBC Proms in London and the Mozart Festival in Salzburg.



Concert 9
Thursday 3rd September, afternoon
Grand Wind Finale

Abbey of St. Florian, Sala Terrena
Collegium Viennense
Krommer, Smetana, Mozart

Founded in the eighth century, the Abbey of St Florian became one of the richest in the Austrian Empire. Wholesale rebuilding took place between 1686 and 1751, Austria’s great period of political and military confidence and architectural ambition. The concert takes place in a room whose decoration shows that it has always been used for making music.

Collegium Viennense was founded by musicians from several Austrian orchestras brought up in the Viennese tradition of wind music performance. Through tours and CDs they have become acknowledged as the leading ensemble for the repertoire.

Bohemia was the source of much Austro-Hungarian wind music, and this is celebrated in this programme with an octet by Franz Krommer (born in 1759; another anniversary) and music from Smetana’s Bartered Bride. The second half consists of Mozart’s Gran Partita; thirteen players perform the grandest and most moving piece of wind music ever composed.