Giovanni Antonini Joseph Haydn
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Beginning in 1760, Joseph Haydn (1732–1809) worked for several decades as court composer and musician at the Esterházy family’s castle in Hungary. His music eventually became popular throughout Europe, but it wasn’t until the 1790s that he had the opportunity to travel himself. Haydn was especially popular in England and he received a warm reception when he came to London in 1791. His two stays in the city were both successful and productive. Symphony No. 103 is the next to last of twelve symphonies that were mainly written in London and it was premiered there in 1795.

Up until 1779 Hayden exclusively wrote music for his employer the Esterházy family, although he did receive permission to write for others. He wrote the orchestral work The Seven Last Words of Christ in 1786 on a commission for the Good Friday service in the Oratorio de la Santa Cueva church in the Spanish city Cádiz. It is based on a collection of seven statements or ‘words’ from Jesus while he was on the cross, which have been used in various liturgies since the 16th century. The interior room of the church in Cádiz is below ground level and the music was played in fully subdued light. The introduction of the piece will be played at this concert.

The opera The Marriage of Figaro, by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791), had its premiere in Vienna in the spring of 1786. Half a year later it was staged in Prague where it was a huge success. The city’s music lovers collected money to get Mozart to Prague and in January the following year he came to hear the opera and later conduct it. He brought along with him a completely new work, Symphony No. 38, which was premiered in Prague on 19 January 1787. The symphony only has three movements, but the first movement is Mozart’s longest and perhaps most ambitious symphony movement.