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Morten Schuldt-Jensen 2 CDs Born in 1958, Morten Schuldt-Jensen graduated from the Royal Danish Academy of Music with conducting, singing HAYDN and vocal training as his main subjects. He holds an MA in musicology from the University of Copenhagen, and undertook post-graduate courses with, among others, Sergiù Celibidache and Eric Ericson. He has won several prizes and Die Jahreszeiten awards. For a number of years he taught as an Associate Professor at the Royal Danish Academy of Music and at the University of Copenhagen, and is now employed at the (The Seasons) Gewandhaus in Leipzig, and teaches at the Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy Hochschule für Musik und Theater. Morten Schuldt-Jensen has appeared with a number of Rubens • Karasiak • MacLeod professional orchestras, among others the Gewandhausorchester, Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, GewandhausKammerchor Batzdorfer Hofkapelle, Neues Bachisches Collegium Musicum (Germany), the Copenhagen Philharmonic Leipziger Kammerorchester • Morten Schuldt-Jensen Orchestra, the Danish Radio Sinfonietta, the Aalborg and Odense (Denmark), Lodz Radio (Poland) and Helsingborg (Sweden) Symphony orchestras, and several special Scandinavian baroque orchestras. In 2000 he was appointed principal conductor and artistic director of the Leipziger Kammerorchester. An extraordinarily broad repertoire, combined with an acute sense of style, characterises this successful partnership, which has already been documented in several recordings and broadcasts. Morten Schuldt-Jensen has conducted at some of the best known European music venues and festivals, including the Gewandhaus and Thomaskirche in Leipzig, Philharmonie Berlin, the music festivals in Rheingau, Schleswig-Holstein and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, MDR-Musiksommer, Bachfest and Mendelssohn-Festtage in Leipzig, and also at the Seoul International Music Festival, Korea, at the Kioi Hall in Tokyo, combined with extensive touring throughout Germany, in Scandinavia, Italy, Spain and Japan, with a number of concerts televised and broadcast nation-wide. Owing to his experience as a trained singer, a former member of The Danish National Radio Choir, Morten Schuldt-Jensen has also successfully worked within the choral field. He is the leader and founder of the internationally acclaimed chamber choir Sokkelund Sangkor and the symphonic Tivoli Concert Choir (Denmark), with which he has won several international contests and numerous prizes. In 1995 and 1997 he was appointed Representative Conductor for Denmark (Nordic-Baltic Choral Festival). Since 1996 he has regularly guest conducted and recorded with the RIAS Kammerchor, Berlin, the NDR-Chor, Hamburg, the MDR Rundfunk-Chor, Leipzig, and the Danish National Radio Choir. He is also the founder and director of the internationally highly acclaimed professional Leipzig GewandhausKammerchor. As a chorus-master he has worked with such distinguished conductors as Sir Simon Rattle, Sir John Elliot Gardiner, Herbert Blomstedt, Riccardo Chailly, Philippe Herreweghe, René Jacobs, Marcello Viotti, Jíﬁí Bûlohlávek, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Serge Baudo, Hartmut Haenchen, Peter Schreier, Walter Weller, Lothar Zagrosek and many others.

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Franz Josef GewandhausKammerchor The GewandhausKammerchor (Gewandhaus Chamber Choir) was formed in 2001 to provide an artistic level equal HAYDN to that of the world famous Gewandhaus Orchestra. The choir is a professional group, whose members are recruited (1732-1809) from among the best choral singers in Germany, the Netherlands and Southern Scandinavia. The choir’s projects are organised as highly concentrated rehearsal sessions and concert activity, and the number and type of singers are adjusted in accordance with the current project. Allied with the high technical vocal quality and flexibility of the Die Jahreszeiten individual singers, this concept allows the GewandhausKammerchor to sing very different programmes, ranging from Renaissance madrigals through the baroque, romantic and contemporary repertoire with or without orchestra, (The Seasons) including world premières of Central European and Scandinavian music. Not least, composers related to Leipzig and Saxony such as Schütz, Bach, Mendelssohn, Brahms and Reger are given special attention. The Oratorio for three solo voices, choir and orchestra GewandhausKammerchor has sung at high profile venues in Germany, including the Rheingau Festival, the MDR- Musiksommer, the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival, the Bach-Fest and Mendelssohn-Festtage Leipzig. The choir Words by Baron Gottfried van Swieten, after James Thomson also performs under the name of „Immortal-Bach-Ensemble“ and the responsibility for the artistic profile and quality lies with Gewandhauschordirektor Morten Schuldt-Jensen.

Hanne ...... Sibylla Rubens, Soprano Leipziger Kammerorchester The Leipziger Kammerorchester (Leipzig Chamber Orchestra) was founded in 1971 by members of the Lukas ...... Andreas Karasiak, Tenor Gewandhausorchester who were – besides playing large-scale symphonic and operatic repertoire – eager to work with performance practice on a more individual level. Morten Schuldt-Jensen, principal conductor and artistic Simon ...... Stephan MacLeod, Bass director since 2000, has developed the orchestra into being a flexible ensemble with a very personal style. With him the Leipziger Kammerorchester has toured in Denmark, Spain, Korea and Japan, appeared at the Rheingau and Schleswig-Holstein Music Festivals and made a number of recordings. Orchestra and conductor aim to perform compositions on modern instruments with extra attention to articulation, phrasing and the changing colours of sound. The technical possibilities of modern instruments are combined with the newest insights into performance practice from baroque to contemporary music, thus allowing every stylistic period and every piece to be experienced according to its inner musical structure.

GewandhausKammerchor Leipziger Kammerorchester Morten Schuldt-Jensen

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Stephan MacLeod CD1 66:25 The bass-baritone Stephan MacLeod was born in Geneva. After ten years of studying violin and piano at the Conservatoire de Musique de Genève, he started DER FRÜHLING / SPRING 28:48 singing lessons with Michèle Moser and later with Ursula Buckel. He was a 1 No. 1: Einleitung / Introduction: Die Einleitung stellt den Übergang vom Winter zum Sommer dar / 5:44 member of the singing class of Kurt Moll at the Hochschule für Musik in Cologne, The Overture paints the passage of the Winter to the Spring where he also studied musicology. He graduated at the Conservatoire Lausanne in Recitative: Seht, wie der strenge Winter flieht / See, how sad, gloomy winter fly’s (Simon, Lukas, Hanne) the singing class of Gary Magby. Stephan MacLeod has appeared as a soloist under 2 No. 2 – Chorus: Komm, holder Lenz! / Come, gentle spring! 3:26 the direction of many of the most distinguished conductors in nearly all European 3 No. 3 – Recitative: Vom Widder strahlet jetzt / Now in his course the sun (Simon) 0:31 4 countries, in addition to Israel, Japan, China, South America, Canada and the No. 4 – Aria: Schon eilet froh der Ackersmann / With eagerness the husbandman (Simon) 3:15 5 United States. He has performed with leading orchestras, and has a repertoire that No. 5 – Recitative: Der Landmann hat sein Werk vollbracht / The countryman has done his due 0:30 includes renaissance and baroque music, the romantic Lied and oratorio as well as (Lukas) 6 No. 6 – Soloists and Chorus: Bittgesang / Prayer 4:54 contemporary works. His career has brought operatic engagements and he has Sei nun gnädig, milder Himmel / Be now gracious, O kind heaven (Lukas, Simon, Hanne, Chorus) made numerous recordings and broadcasts. He is the founder and leader of the 7 No. 7 – Recitative: Erhört ist unser Flehn / Our humble pray’rs are heard (Hanne) 0:54 ensemble Gli Angeli Genève. 8 No. 8 – Trio and Chorus: Freudenlied, mit abwechseldem Chor der Jugend / Song of joy, with an alternating chorus of girls and lads O wie lieblich ist der Anblick / O what num’rous charms unfolding 4:53 (Hanne, Lukas, Simon, Chorus) 9 No. 9 – Soloists and Chorus: Ewiger, mächtiger / Endless God, mighty God, merciful God 4:42 (Hanne, Lukas, Simon, Chorus)

DER SOMMER / SUMMER 37:37 Die Einleitung stellt die Morgendämmerung vor / The overture paints the dawn of day 0 No. 10 – Recitative: In grauem Schleier rückt heran / Her face in dewy veil conceal’d (Lukas, Simon) 4:31 ! No. 11 – Aria: Der muntre Hirt versammelt nun / The ready swain is gath’ring now (Simon) 3:06 Recitative: Die Morgenröte bricht hervor / With rosy steps young day pours in (Hanne) @ No. 12 – Soloists and Chorus: Sie steigt herauf, die Sonne / The sun ascends, he mounts 4:39 (Hanne, Lukas, Simon, Chorus) # No. 13 – Recitative: Nun regt und bewegt sich alles umher / Now comes in swarms the rustic youth 0:37 (Simon) $ No. 14 – Recitative: Die Mittagssonne brennet jetzt / ’Tis noon, and vertical the sun (Simon) 1:28 % No. 15 – Cavatina: Dem Druck’ erlieget die Natur / Distressfull nature fainting sinks (Lukas) 4:27 ^ No. 16 – Recitative: Willkommen jetzt, o dunkler Hain / O welcome now, ye shady groves (Hanne) 3:58 & No. 17 – Aria: Welche Labung für die Sinne / O what comfort to the senses (Hanne) 4:28 * No. 18 – Recitative: O seht, es steiget in der schwülen Luft / Behold! On yonder edge 2:34 of mountains high (Simon, Lukas, Hanne) ( No. 19 – Chorus: Ach! Das Ungewitter naht / Oh! The tempest comes o’er head (Chorus) 3:42 ) No. 20 – Soloists and Chorus: Die düstren Wolken trennen sich / The cloudy welkin now clears up 4:04 (Lukas, Hanne, Simon, Chorus)

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CD2 64:29 Sibylla Rubens The German soprano Sibylla Rubens studied singing (concert and opera) at the DER HERBST / AUTUMN 32:31 Staatliche Musikhochschule in Trossingen and at the Hochschule für Musik in 1 No. 21: Einleitung / Overture: Der Einleitung Gegenstand ist des Landsmanns freudiges Gefühl über 1:50 Frankfurt/Main. She participated in numerous master-classes, amongst others those die reiche Ernte / The overture indicates the husbandman’s satisfaction at the abundant harvest of Edith Mathis and Elsa Cavelti, and was a student of Irwin Gage’s class for Lied Recitative: Was durch seine Blüte der Lenz / What by various blossoms fair spring ( Hanne) interpretation in Zurich. A much sought-after artist in Germany and abroad, she 2 No. 22 – Recitative: Den reichen Vorrat führt er nun / Th’ abundant harvest now he brings (Lukas) 0:34 made her début at the Deutsches Symphonieorchester Berlin with Mendelssohn’s 3 No. 23 – Terzetto and Chorus: So lohnet die Natur den Fleiß / So nature ever kind repays 5:32 Lobgesang-Sinfonie under Vladimir Ashkenazy, returning for concerts of (Hanne, Simon, Lukas, Chorus) Schumann’s Faust-Szenen conducted by Marek Janowski. These appearances form 4 No. 24 – Recitative: Seht, wie zum Haselbusche dort / Behold, how to the hazelbank 1:08 only a part of a distinguished career that has brought collaboration with leading (Hanne, Simon, Lukas) conductors, orchestras and ensembles. Although Sibylla Rubens is mostly 5 No. 25 – Duet: Ihr Schönen aus der Stadt, kommt her / Ye ladies fine and fair! O come (Lukas, Hanne) 7:30 renowned as a concert singer, her rare excursions into the operatic field give proof 6 No. 26 – Recitative: Nun zeiget das entblößte Feld / Now on the stripped fields appear (Simon) 1:05 7 No. 27 – Aria: Seht auf die breiten Wiesen hin / Behold the wide extended meads (Simon) 3:11 of the great charisma she evinces on stage. As a Lieder singer, she had a great 8 No. 28 – Recitative: Hier ein dichter Kreis die Hasen / Here closed rings compel the timid hares (Lukas) 0:40 success with her first recital with Irwin Gage at the Ludwigsburger 9 No. 29 – Chorus: Hört das laute Getön / Hear, hear the clank and the noise 3:56 Schloßfestspiele in 1999. She has participated in numerous recordings, with award- (Landvolk und Jäger / Country-people and Hunters) winning discs of both Bach Passions under Philippe Herreweghe. Ton Koopman 0 No. 30 – Recitative: Am Rebenstocke blinket jetzt / The vineyard now in clusters bright 1:08 engaged her for his reconstruction of Bach’s St Mark Passion. Another unique (Hanne, Simon, Lukas) recording is Schubert’s Lazarus in the arrangement of Edison Denisov. ! No. 31 – Chorus: Juhhe, juhhe! Der Wein ist da / Heyday, heyday! The liquor flows (Chorus) 5:57

DER WINTER / WINTER 31:59 Andreas Karasiak @ No. 32 – Einleitung / Overture: Die Einleitung schildert die dicken Nebel, womit der Winter anfängt / 2:52 Andreas Karasiak studied voice at the Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz The overture paints the thick fogs at the beginning of Winter with Claudia Eder, with whom he continues to work. Concurrently he also studied # No. 33 – Recitative: Nun senket sich das blasse Jahr / Now sinks the pale declining year (Simon) 2:41 Baroque music with René Jacobs in Basel. In 1998 he was prizewinner at the $ No. 34 – Cavatina: Licht und Leben sing geschwächet / Light and life in sadness languish (Hanne) 2:01 Bundeswettbewerb Gesang (Federal Singing Competition) in Berlin. From 1999 to % No. 35 – Recitative: Gefesselt steht der breite See / By frost cemented stands the lake (Lukas) 2:35 2002 he was engaged as lyric tenor at the National Theater Mannheim, singing ^ No. 36 – Aria: Hier steht der Wandrer nun / Here stands the wand’rer now (Lukas) 3:56 rôles such as Tamino, Ferrando, Belmonte, Jaquino, Alfred (Fledermaus), Schwan & No. 37 – Recitative: So wie er nacht, schallt in sein Ohr / As he draws nigh, soon to his ears 1:18 (Carmina burana), Testo (Combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda, Monteverdi) (Lukas, Hanne, Simon) and Uriel (The Creation). He has also appeared at the opera houses in Stuttgart, * No. 38 – Soloist and Chorus: Knurre, schnurre, Rädchen, knurre / Set the wheel agoing, make it snore 2:44 Brunswick, Oldenburg, Mainz, Kaiserslautern, Wiesbaden and Weimar. In 2003 he (Hanne, Chorus) made his début at the Basel Theater as Jupiter in Handel’s Semele. Andreas ( No. 39 – Recitative: Abgesponnen ist der Flachs / Th’ evening task performed is (Lukas) 0:24 Karasiak has collaborated with a number of leading conductors and with orchestras ) No. 40 – Song and Chorus: Ein Mädchen, das auf Ehre hielt / An honest country-girl there was 3:13 of similar eminence. Numerous broadcast recordings testify to the high quality of (Hanne, Chorus) his creative output. At the end of 2003 he participated in a recording of Gluck’s ¡ No. 41 – Recitative: Vom dürren Oste dringt / Now from the livid East (Simon) 0:49 L’innocenza giustificata and in Cartellieri’s Christmas Oratorio. The following ™ No. 42 – Aria: Erblicke hier, betörter Mensch / Behold, O weak and foolish man (Simon) 4:25 year brought appearances in Schumann’s Scenes from Goethe’s Faust and as No. 43 – Recitative: Sie bliebt allein und leitet uns / Alone she stays! Alone she too (Simon) Emilio in Mozart’s Il sogno di Scipione), and in Monteverdi’s Il ritorno d’Ulisse £ No. 44 – Soloists and Double Chorus: Dann bricht der große Morgen an / Then comes the great and 5:01 in patria with the Brussels Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie at the Melbourne glorious morn (Simon, Lukas, Hanne, Chorus) International Arts Festival.

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introducing the Allegro molto questioning of the coming of dawn, Dann bricht der große Morgen an Franz Josef Haydn (1732–1809) ambitions of youth, Wo sind sie nun, die hoh’n (Then comes the great and glorious morn). The great The Seasons Entwürfe? (Where are they now, the lofty plans?), chorus includes the inevitable climactic fugue, Uns leitet capped by the short recitative Sie bleibt allein (Alone deine Hand, o Gott! (Your hand leads us, O God!), as Joseph Haydn was born in the village of Rohrau in 1732, be spent in Vienna, where Haydn passed his final years, she stays), with the moral that virtue alone remains. The the oratorio reaches its conclusion, the C major of this the son of a wheelwright. Trained at the choir-school of dying in 1809, as the French armies of Napoleon work ends with an immensely impressive movement for life. St Stephen’s Cathedral in Vienna, he subsequently spent approached the city yet again. the soloists and double choir £, cheerfully started by the some years earning a living as best he could from Among other notable results of Haydn’s visits to trumpets and wind instruments, as Simon announces the Keith Anderson teaching and playing the violin or keyboard, and was London were his two great oratorios, The Creation and able to profit from association with the old composer The Seasons. In London towards the end of May in 1791 Porpora, whose assistant he became. Haydn’s first Haydn had attended the great Handel Festival in On modern instruments? significant appointment was probably as early as 1758 Westminster Abbey, with its thousand performers. The as Kapellmeister to a Bohemian nobleman, Count von music of Handel was known, of course, in Vienna, Does it make sense to rebuild a destroyed baroque castle transition from that quality of tone to modern Morzin, whose kinsman had once served as patron to where, particularly with the encouragement of Baron by using contemporary or mainly non-original material? instruments is a complex process requiring time and Vivaldi. This was followed in 1761 by employment in Gottfried van Swieten, arbiter elegantium of the Perhaps, but the condition for a satisfying result is patience as well as singers and musicians ready Eisenstadt as Vice-Kapellmeister to one of the richest Imperial court, the interest of Mozart had been aroused unconditional respect for the original drawings when temporarily to change their technique. For strings both men in the Empire, Prince Paul Anton Esterházy, and performances of oratorios had been arranged. The they exist and knowledge of the construction technique left and right hands must follow other patterns than have succeeded after his death in 1762 by Prince Nicolaus. English tradition of Handel performance, however, was of the time. Consequently, if the illusion is to be been customary for the last sixty to seventy years. On the death in 1766 of the elderly and somewhat something new, suggesting to Haydn a possible return to convincing, it will help to let the double-glazing imitate Singers must change their methods of voice production, obstructive Kapellmeister Gregor Werner, who had a form he had explored sixteen years earlier in Il ritorno the window-style of the time. A refrigerator in the corner the woodwind play with different, lighter reeds, and found much to complain about in the professionalism of di Tobia. The Creation was completed in Vienna in 1798 and a plastic chair will not further the illusion either, both groups have to change breathing technique. his young and resented deputy, Haydn succeeded to his and first heard there the same year. The German libretto, although both are practical and inevitable today. The For a long period of time it might seem like one is position, to remain in the same employment, nominally based on an original English text acquired in London same goes for the forgotten denim jacket and soft drink merely working. For the modern musician it might even at least, for the rest of his life. and derived from Milton and from the Bible, was by bottle. not seem meaningful, or at least the overall idea can be On the completion of the magnificent palace at Baron van Swieten, and it was he who compiled a text Does it make sense to create an illusion of the difficult to grasp for the individual because the Esterháza in the Hungarian plains under Prince for The Seasons, which he based on the then enormously musical style of the 1700s on modern instruments? In distribution of musical tasks was different then and Nicolaus, Haydn assumed command of an increased popular and influential work of the Scottish poet James my opinion yes, but based on a clear concept, in this case changed during the 19th century. musical establishment. Here he had responsibility for the Thomson, drawing on the existing 1745 German with regard to phrasing and articulation. Mozart, Haydn Then suddenly one day, looking at the building site, musical activities of the palace, which included the translation by Barthold Heinrich Brockes, and including, and their colleagues were trained in what we today one can experience a glimpse of the past, an expression provision and direction of instrumental music, opera and in Winter, Gottfried August Bürger’s Spinnerlied would call baroque practice and older vocal polyphony. no longer known; an aesthetic that has been lost. These music for the theatre, as well as music for the church. (Spinning-Song) and a translation by Christian Felix The reading of the score as the first step on the way to a moments are addictive. And then the only thing to do is For his patron he provided a quantity of chamber music Weisse, Ein Mädchen, das auf Ehre hielt, of a song by realisation of sound must necessarily start with the to move on until the room is completely finished with all of all kinds, particularly for the Prince’s own peculiar the wife of the French playwright, composer and actor- composer’s schooling and experience, while also the original details in place. instrument, the baryton, a bowed string instrument with manager Charles-Simon Favart. Van Swieten, who had including conventions then generally known, rendering But an illusion it remains. I hope you will enjoy it. sympathetic strings that could also be plucked. urged Haydn to this work and who offered advice, their recording unnecessary. Prince Nicolaus died in 1790 and Haydn found whether welcome or not, during its composition, made it We have some idea about how the written music himself able to accept an invitation to visit London. clear that he did not wish his name to appear in sounded on instruments of the day, but the technical Morten Schuldt-Jensen There he provided music for concert seasons organized publications or performances of The Seasons, in part in by the violinist-impresario Salomon. A second view of the composite nature of the text. Nevertheless, successful visit to London in 1794 and 1795 was whatever criticisms may be made of the libretto, it Sung texts for this release are available as PDF files online at www.naxos.com/libretti/seasons.htm followed by a return to duty with the Esterházy family, shows considerable skill in the necessary compression This measure is designed to help keep our releases at an affordable price and maintain Naxos’ position as the new head of which had settled principally at the and arrangement of a text from such a diffuse original. leader in the budget-priced market. family property in Eisenstadt, where Haydn had started James Thomson was born in 1700, the third son of a his career with them. Much of the year, however, was to Scottish minister who, in the same year, took over the 8.557600-01 8 5 8.557600-01 557600-01bk Haydn US 8/11/05 2:04 pm Page 6

parish of Southdean in the Scottish border county of snows and an Adagio leading to the welcome to spring accompanied recitative Die Mittagssonne brennet (Tis extended meads) 7, with his spaniel seeking the scent, Roxburghshire, where he spent his childhood, before, in from Hanne. The first chorus, Komm, holder Lenz! noon, and vertical) $ and his cavatina Dem Druck’ melismatically expressed. The dog is deaf to his 1725, leaving to seek his fortune in London. He (Come, gentle Spring!) 2, is a pastoral movement, with erlieget die Natur (Distressful Nature fainting sinks) %. master’s call, but stands, as the man shoots the bird published the first version of Winter the following year, a text derived from the opening lines of Thomson’s A further accompanied recitative for Hanne, dead. Lukas describes the hunting of the hare 8, before and the whole poem appeared first in 1730. This was poem. Simon’s secco recitative 3, as the sun brings Willkommen jetzt, o dunkler Hain (O welcome now, ye the horns return to open a hunting chorus, Hört das laute later greatly expanded, reminiscences of his rural warmth, is followed by the aria Schon eilet froh der shady groves) ^ introduces her aria Welche Labung für Getön (Hear the clank and the noise) 9, in which childhood augmented by moral reflection and Ackersmann (With eagerness the husbandman) 4, his die Sinne (O what comfort to the senses) &, with its traditional horn-calls mark the stages of the chase. The appropriate and often lengthy illustrative digressions. whistling, as he toils, reflected in the theme from the oboe solo first in the Adagio opening section, and again soloists in a recitative, Am Rebenstocke blinket jetzt die The new complete edition was published in 1744, and Andante of Haydn’s Surprise Symphony, a melody he of importance in the Allegro assai that succeeds. Simon helle Traub (The vineyard now in clusters bright) 0, further editions appeared over the years. Thomson, preferred to the more banal suggestion of Baron van opens the recitative O seht! Es steiget in der schwülen provide a prelude to a choral celebration of wine, Juhe, however, died in 1748, his death commemorated in an Swieten. In a recitative Lukas announces the completion Luft (Behold! On yonder edge of mountains high) *, juhe! Der Wein ist da (Heyday, heyday! The liquor ode by the poet William Collins, and, in 1762, by a of the countryman’s work 5, followed by soloists and joined by Lukas and then by Hanne. It would not be flows) !, leading to what Haydn described as a drunken monument in Westminster Abbey. In his Lives of the chorus in a prayer, Sei nun gnädig (Be now gracious) 6, summer without a thunder-storm, and this follows, fugue, graphic in its descriptive power. Poets Dr Johnson, in his distinctive lapidary style, offers in which the three trombones heard in the Introduction already suggested by the timpani in the preceding The overture to Winter @ depicts thick fog, leading his own judgement of Thomson, detecting in The return. The movement opens with a Poco adagio, stillness, in the chorus Ach! Das Ungewitter naht (O! to Simon, in an accompanied recitative, Nun senket sich Seasons ‘want of method’, but quotes with approval the leading to a fugue introduced by the altos, Uns sprießet The tempest comes o’er head) (. The impressively das blasse Jahr (Now sinks the pale declining year) #, judgement of Thomson’s friend and patron Lord Überfluß (To us plenty comes forth), a memory, as operatic storm culminates in a fugue, growing quiet and to Hanne, the heralding of winter. Her moving short Lyttleton, that his works contained ‘No line which, Donald Tovey suggested, of the fugal Quam olim before the closing number for chorus and soloists, Die cavatina Licht und Leben sind geschwächet (Light and dying, he could wish to blot’. Abrahae of Mozart’s Requiem. Hanne’s recitative düstren Wolken trennen sich (The cloudy welking now life in sadness languish) $, accompanied only by Haydn’s oratorio The Seasons was first performed Erhört ist unser Flehn (Our humble pray’rs are heard) 7 clears up) ), as summer comes to an end. strings, is succeeded by Lukas’s recitative Gefesselt in Vienna on 24th April 1801 at the house of Prince von ushers in the song of joy that ends the first section, a CD 2: The introduction to Autumn 1 indicates the steht der breite See (By frost cemented stands the lake) Schwarzenberg, with further performances on 27th ‘chorus of girls and lads’, led by Hanne and Lukas, and husbandman’s satisfaction at the abundant harvest in its %, and his rapider aria Hier steht der Wandrer nun April and 1st May. The first public performance was with illustrative orchestral elements 8. The movement cheerful dotted rhythm, ending with Hanne’s recitative (Here stands the wand’rer now) ^ depicts the given on 29th May in the Redoutensaal, where a number suggests, as the Haydn scholar H. C. Robbins Landon Was durch seine Blüthe der Lenz (What by various predicament of the lonely traveller, relieved at the sight of empty seats and an audience of seven hundred in a has pointed out, an operatic finale in its complex blossoms). This is suucceded by Lukas and Simon’s of a human habitation, to which he hurries. The hall that could hold many more, suggest the changing organization. An impressive Maestoso, Ewiger, description of the harvest 2, continued by the soloists recitative So wie er naht (As he draws nigh) & brings taste of the wider Viennese public in a year that brought mächtiger (Endless God, mighty God) follows 9, and chorus in So lohnet die Natur den Fleiß (So Nature the sound of voices and a humble welcome. This the publication of Beethoven’s Symphony No.1, through a triple metre Poco adagio, to an Allegro fugue, ever kind repays) 3. This praise of industry, with allowed the librettist to insert the Spinnerlied (Spinning- dedicated to Baron van Swieten, and his first set of Ehre, Lob und Preis (Glory, praise and laud), ending the sentiments that Haydn could only find apt for musical Song) by Bürger, Knurre, schnurre (Set the wheel string quartets. Haydn’s style had never remained static, first season. setting with a certain wryness, summarises a long agoing) *, set with a musical depiction of the common developing gradually during his long career. The Summer is introduced by the strings, with brief section in Thomson’s poem, These are thy blessings, domestic activity that was to have further musical Seasons has an element of retrospection, a summary of support from clarinets and bassoons 0, before the Industry, rough power! The movement reaches its consequences in the following years. In a recitative, what has gone before, but also looks to the musical accompanied recitative of Lukas, In grauem Schleier climax in a fugue. The soloists’ recitative, Seht, wie zum Abgesponnen ist der Flachs (Th’ ev’ning task performed future. rückt heran (Her face in dewy veil conceal’d) greeting Haselbusche dort (Behold, how to the hazelbank) 4 is) (, Lukas introduces Hanne’s tale, Ein Mädchen, das CD 1: Spring, the first of the four seasons, opens the dawn of day. Simon welcomes the herald of day, and leads to Hanne and Lukas’s duet Ihr Schönen aus der auf Ehre hielt (An honest country-girl there was) ), a with an Introduction 1 that depicts the passing of winter a horn solo starts and accompanies his gently lilting Stadt (Ye ladies fine and fair) 5, a Viennese comic strophic setting of the interpolated song, with comment and the start of the new season. It starts with four unison pastoral aria Der muntre Hirt (The ready swain) !. opera creation, recalling, as so often in this work, and encouragement from the chorus, a further return to descending notes in the strings, from which the violas Hanne’s recitative leads to a rising figure in which the elements of Die Zauberflöte. There is a central Adagio, the world of the comic Vienna Singspiel. Simon’s and bassoons alone diverge. The first theme, in G minor, other soloists join, Sie steigt herauf (The sun ascends, he Welch’ ein Glück ist treue Liebe! (What happiness is recitative, Vom dürren Oste dringt ein scharfer appears first in canon, with a secondary theme in B flat mounts) @. The chorus sings its greeting to the sun, true love!), before the lovers continue their song of Eishauch (Now from the livid East) ¡ is followed by major, material developed and returning in before the soloists interrupt with their song of thanks. delight. Simon’s recitative Nun zeiget das entblößte Feld the aria Erblicke hier, bethörter Mensch (Behold, o recapitulation, leading to Simon’s recitative on the Simon’s recitative Nun regt und bewegt sich alles umher (Now on the stripped field appear) 6 leads into his aria weak and foolish man) ™, which allows Simon to offer departure of winter, Lukas’s description of the melting (Now comes in swarms) # is followed by Lukas’s sultry Seht auf die breiten Wiesen hin (Behold the wide his comparison of winter to old age, the opening Largo 8.557600-01 6 7 8.557600-01 557600-01bk Haydn US 8/11/05 2:04 pm Page 6

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GewandhausKammerchor Leipziger Kammerorchester Morten Schuldt-Jensen

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8.557600-01 12 CMYK NAXOS NAXOS Vivaldi was not the only composer to write a universally popular Four Seasons. Composed directly after The Creation (Naxos 8.557380-81), Haydn’s oratorio The Seasons features three peasant soloists who sing of the joys, trials and tribulations of country life throughout the year, complete with a chorus of villagers. Haydn’s genius transforms many genre scenes – a summer storm, hunting episodes, daybreak, the 8.557600-01 HAYDN: gloomy winter fog and peasant dances – into something truly spectacular, joyous and life- HAYDN: affirming, in keeping with his deeply held religious conviction. DDD

Franz Josef Playing Time HAYDN 2:10:55 Die Jahreszeiten (The Seasons) (1732–1809) Die Jahreszeiten (The Seasons) Die Jahreszeiten (The Seasons) CD 1 66:25 1-9 Der Frühling (Spring) 28:48 0-) Der Sommer (Summer) 37:37

CD 2 64:29 www.naxos.com Made in USA www.naxos.com/libretti/seasons.htm Sung texts can be accessed at: Booklet notes in English

1-! Der Herbst (Autumn) 32:31 & @ £ - Der Winter (Winter) 31:59 2006 Naxos Rights International Ltd. Sibylla Rubens, Soprano Andreas Karasiak, Tenor • Stephan MacLeod, Bass GewandhausKammerchor • Leipziger Kammerorchester Morten Schuldt-Jensen 8.557600-01 8.557600-01

8.557570 Recorded in the Großer Saal des Gewandhauses, Leipzig, Germany, from 7th to 10th July, 2004 Producer and Engineer: Phil Rowlands • Booklet Notes: Keith Anderson Please see the booklet for a detailed track list Cover Picture: The Seasons by Walter Crane (1845-1915) (Roy Miles Fine Paintings / Bridgeman Art Library)