• Introduction
• Itinerary
• Practicalities
• Lecturer

One of the most important locations in the history of music, Esterháza is also one of the most unexpected. Prince Nikolaus ‘the Magnificent’ of Esterházy maintained at this mansion during the summer months an elaborate and populous court among whose number was his director of music, Joseph Haydn. Here, therefore, Haydn wrote much of his music. But the location in western Hungary was – and remains – remote, far from the major cities of the Empire and almost entirely disconnected from such social and economic structures as the marshy and unproductive environs supported.

It is also a heart-stoppingly beautiful place, a delicious effusion of 1770s architecture and decoration hovering between the gaiety of Rococo and the restraint of Neo-Classicism. Funded originally by the richest landowner in Hungary, it was battered by nineteenth-century neglect and by twentieth-century distaste for what it stood for. Even its name was changed by the Communists, to Fertöd, to obliterate memory of its aristocratic genesis.

Nevertheless, it still survives, and is coming alive again to the sound of music. Concerts occurred intermittently in the 1990s and more recently a regular series has been established.

The artists perform in a hall of exceptional beauty, in one whose small capacity (no more than 150) enables a high degree of intimacy of musical communication, and in one in which some of the pieces may have been first performed.

One of the concerts is in Eisenstadt across the border into Austria, at the 17th-century Schloss Esterházy, the prince’s main residence.

This tour is based at another country house a few miles away which has been beautifully converted into a luxury hotel. There will be excursions to places of interest in the vicinity but also plenty of time for relaxation at the hotel.

At the time of publication, full programme details had not been confirmed.