Haydn’s London Years
Monday, October 26, 7:00 PM
Margeson Theater, Lowndes Shakespeare Center
Christopher Wilkins, conductor

Tamas Kocsis, violin •  Ronald Gardiner, cello
Jamie Strefeler, oboe •  Diane Bishop, bassoon
Colleen Blagov & Sandra del Cid, flutes

Haydn: Overture to an English Opera, Windsor Castle

Concerto for 2 Lire organizzate
Symphony No. 104 in D, London
Sinfonia concertante

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Insights from Music Director Christopher Wilkins

“I am Solomon from London, and I have come to fetch you.”  This is how one of the most productive relationships in the history of music began. Johann Peter Salomon, founder and leader of London’s most successful concert series, had traveled to Vienna for the purpose of securing a contract with Haydn to compose and perform for the Salomon Concerts.

Londoners – who had long clamored for a visit from Haydn – got what they wished for.  Haydn produced for them a string of masterful instrumental compositions, capped by his twelve final symphonies, the so-called “London” symphonies, and his multi-instrument concerto, the Sinfonia concertante.

I am thrilled to present these jewels of the Classical era in Orlando. The Sinfonia concertante and Symphony No. 104 are my personal favorites of all Haydn works, after The Creation.  A new tender, sublime and magical tone entered Haydn’s voice in England. The London music is unbridled, dramatic, and richly varied as always, but with a new blissful serenity.

Haydn apparently fell in love in London.  He took on a pupil by the name of Rebecca Shroeter, the young widow of composer and pianist J. S. Schroeter.  There is no question of her feelings for Haydn:  “No language can express half the love and affection I feel for you.”  On his return visit to London – a year and a half after his first visit – Haydn changed lodgings.  Was it coincidence that his new dwelling was very close to Rebecca Shroeter’s?  Could this account for the new ecstatic and tender quality of his final symphonies and the Sinfonia concertante?

London brought Haydn new inspiration in many ways.  Its orchestras were superb, and very large by Viennese standards.  They performed in several magnificent venues and were supported by a large, well-educated and enthusiastic public.

“Haydn’s London Years” features six outstanding soloists from the Orlando Philharmonic.  A strong display of virtuosity is very much in keeping with Haydn’s concerts in London.  They were extravaganzas. Haydn was thrilled by the quality of the orchestras and soloists in London, and his compositions were designed to celebrate great musicianship to the fullest.

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Haydn’s Symphony No. 104 “London”