HAYDN Symphonies, Volume 22 Symphonies Nos 13 & 36 Sinfonia Concertante Cologne Chamber Orchestra a Helmut Miiller-Briihl Joseph Haydn (1732-1 809) Symphony No. 13 in D majore Symphony No. 36 in E flat major Sinfonia Concertante in B flat major Joseph Haydn was born in the village of Rohrau Prince Nicolaus died in 1790 and Haydn found in 1732, the son of a wheelwright. Trained at the himself able to accept an invitation to visit London. choir-school of St Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna, he There he provided music for concert seasons subsequently spent some years earning a living as best organized by the violinist-impresario Salomon. A he could from -teaching and playing the violin or second successful visit to London in 1794 and 1795 keyboard, and was able to profit from association with was followed by a return to duty with the Esterhazy the old composer Porpora, whose assistant he became. family, the new head of which had settled principally Haydn's first appointment was probably in 1758 as at the family property in Eisenstadt, where Haydn Knpelh?zeister to a Bohemian nobleman, Count von had started his career with them. Much of the year, Morzin, whose kinsman had once served as patron to however, was to be spent in Vienna, where Haydn Vivaldi. This was followed in 1761 by employment as passed his final years, dying in 1809, as the French Vice-Knpelbneister to one of the richest men in the armies of Napoleon approached the city yet again. Empire, Prince Paul Anton Esterhfizy, succeeded after Haydn lived during the period of the eighteenth his death in 1762 by Prince Nicolaus. On the death in century that saw the development of instrumental 1766 of the elderly and somewhat obstructive music from the age of Bach and Handel to the era of Knpelbizeister Gregor Werner, who had found much the classical sonata, with its tripartite first-movement to complain about in the professionalism of his young form and complementary three or four movements, and resented deputy, Haydn succeeded to his position, the basis now of much instrumental composition. The to remain in the same employment, nominally at least, symphony may claim to have become the most for the rest of his life. important form of orchestral composition and owes a On the completion of the magnificent palace at great deal, if not its precise paternity, to Haydn. He Esterhaza in the Hungarian plains under Prince first attempted such composition some time before Nicolaus, Haydn assumed command of an increased 1759 and wrote his last symphonies for London in the musical establishment. Here he had responsibility for last decade of the century. the musical activities of the palace, which included The two symphonies here included are both the provision and direction of instrumental music, relatively early works. The Sy~?zphoi~j~No. 13 ill D opera and music for the theatre, as well as music for nznjor has a precise date, 1763, one of three the church. For his patron he provided a quantity of symphonies written in that year. It was in August that chamber music of all kinds, particularly for the two new horn-players were added to the complement Prince's own peculiar instrument, the baryton, a of musicians at Eisenstadt and Haydn was at once able bowed string instrument with sympathetic strings that to make use of their abilities in scoring the new could also be plucked. symphony for four horns, together with a flute, two oboes, a bassoon, timpani and strings. The principal instrumental movement, with a recurrent phrase, a theme of the first movement has a festive air about it ritornello, used to punctuate solo passages. A and there is the due modulation to the dominant key of sprightly Mernretto frames a B flat major Trio of A major before the end of the repeated exposition, dynamic contrasts, scored principally for strings, although there is no formal second subject. The horns with brief doubling from the oboes. The last have their moment in the recapitulation that follows movement has a sinister secondary theme starting in the short central development section. The the dominant minor key. The principal theme returns G major slow movement is scored for strings only and in the central section, expanded by the use of the is in the form of an embellished aria for solo cello, Baroque device of sequence, before the expected played at Eisenstadt by the cellist Joseph Weigl. The recapitulation of the material in a movement in key of D major returns, with the wind instruments, for which both halves are repeated. the following Mentret, with a contrasting G major Trio Haydn reached England for his first visit to the for solo flute and strings. The opening of the Finale country on 1st January 1791 and made his way back may seem familiar in its use of a motif derived from to Vienna in the summer of the following year, plainchant that was to serve Mozart in the last having agreed with Salomon on a further visit. It was movement of his Jtrpiter S)snphony and elsewhere. during the second season, at a concert on 9th March The motif appears throughout the movement but only 1792 at the Hanover Square Rooms, that the Sillfonia as it nears its end does it return in fugal overlapping Concertante was first heard, a work in currently entries in the strings, the strefto of traditional popular form. Haydn's pupil Ignace Joseph Pleyel counterpoint. had been engaged by William Cramer to lead a rival S)anphoil)i No. 36 in Eflat major is undated but series of concerts in London, also at the Hanover in style is clearly an early work, written either before Square Rooms, and provided works of this kind. Haydn's appointment to Eisenstadt or in his first This seemingly suggested to Salomon that he might years of employment there. It is scored for pairs of ask Haydn to write something of the same kind. oboes and horns and strings, with the usual Haydn's New Concerto for Violin, Violoncello, Oboe possibility of a bassoon doubling the bass line. The and Bassoon was played by the violinist Salomon energetic first subject of the opening movement himself, with the cellist Menel, the oboist Harrington leads to a secondary theme that starts, at least, in a and the bassoonist Holmes, and described in the minor key. The central section of the movement Morning Herald as 'profound, airy, affecting and starts with the principal subject before moving into a original' on this occasion and also a week later, dramatic exploration of remoter keys, followed by when it was repeated. A full account of these the return of the earlier thematic material in concerts is, of course, included in the monumental recapitulation. The B flat major slow movement is work on Haydn by H. C. Robbins Landon. again scored for strings only, now with a solo violin The soloists appear first in the opening and a solo cello. Although very much of its period, orchestral exposition of the initial Allegro, before the structure is broadly that of the Baroque their first formal entry, with the solo instruments treated in pairs. Other keys are duly explored in the course unexpectedly broken by passages of central development, before the return of the recitative for the solo violin. There is technically principal theme with the solo violin. There is an demanding writing, particularly for the solo violin, effective final cadenza for all four instruments and a brief passage of recitative that might even before the movement comes to an end. Solo violin have suggested something to Beethoven, and a and bassoon start the Andante, accompanied by the short, improvised cadenza, before the final return of strings and followed by the solo oboe and cello. The the main theme. solo group holds the attention throughout the movement, the relatively intimate mood broken by the brusque opening of the last movement, its initial Keith Anderson Cologne Chamber Orchestra Helmut Muller-Bruhl The Cologne Chamber Orchestra was founded in appearances in Europe, Asia, North and South 1923 by Hermann Abendroth and gave its first America and in international festivals, and over two concerts in the Rhine Chamber Music Festival under hundred recordings, as well as broadcasts and the direction of Hermann Abendroth and Otto television appearances, are evidence of the activities Klemperer in the concert-hall of Briihl Castle. Thisty of the orchestra, complemented since 1995 by years later the ensemble was taken over by Erich numerous Naxos recordings. From 1976 until 1987 Kraack, a pupil of Abendroth, and moved to the ensemble played on period instruments under the Leverkusen. In 1964 he handed over the direction of name Capella Clementina. With this Baroque the Cologne Chamber Orchestra to Helmut Miiller- formation Helmut Muller-Bruhl, in numerous Briihl, who, through the study of philosophy and concerts and opera and oratorio performances, set a Catholic theology, as well as art and musicology, had standard for historical performance practice and the acquired a comprehensive theoretical foundation for revival of Baroque music-theatre. Since 1987 the the interpretation of Baroque and Classical music, orchestra, as the Cologne Chamber Orchestra, has complemented through the early study of conducting played according to the principles of historical and of the violin under his mentor Wolfgang performance-practice on modern instruments and so Schneiderhahn. Helmut Muller-Briihl inaugurated can meet the needs of modern concest halls. In 1988 the ensemble as the resident orchestra of the Briihl the Cologne Chamber Orchestra started its own Castle Concerts that he had founded, establishing not concert series in the Cologne Philharmonic Hall only a new centre of activity but also associating it under the title Das Meistenverk (Masterworks), with the Cologne and Briihl tradition of the orchestra concerts that since 1995 have been given in Paris at set up by Abendroth.