Pennsylvania Chamber Orchestra

PCO Presents Haydn

Premiered 3 pm Sunday, October 11, 2020

Program Notes

Life as a member of the orchestra at the court of Esterházy differed radically from the lives of musicians today. The ensemble, including Franz Joseph Haydn, was effectively the sole property of the court. At the beginning of his employ, not even the nobles knew who he was. According to popular legend, Haydn composed a symphony for the birthday of Prince Paul Anton on April 22, 1761, just prior to his formal employment. During the performance, the prince was so impressed that he interrupted the orchestra to inquire who had written the beautiful music. After he was told the composer was Haydn, he said, “But you are already in my service, how is it I have not seen you?” Haydn did not know how to respond, so the prince ordered, “Go and get dressed like a Maestro.” From that point forward, Haydn wore the white wig of a courtier.

Haydn was well known by the time he composed the Symphonies 6, 7, and 8 a few months later, and it may even have been the prince who suggested the topic of “Times of the Day.” In 1755, a fashionable pantomime ballet premiered at the Burgtheater in Vienna where the Prince had a regular box, Les quatres parties du jour en quatres ballets différens (The four parts of the day in four different ballets, subtitled “Le matin,” “Le midi,” “Le soir,” “La nuit”).

Subtitled “Le Matin,” (Morning) Symphony No. 6 opens with a sunrise, a pastoral-sounding melody punctuated with the songs of birds and suggestions of morning fog. The operatic slow movement for solo violin and cello might be a late morning singing lesson taught by the Maestro. The trio of the third movement features the unusual combination of double bass, bassoon and viola over pizzicato strings. The finale has a concerto grosso feel with virtuoso passages for cello, violin and flute.

Program notes by Conductor Laureate, Douglas Meyer.

Video produced by CW Studios.