Choral heavyweights Haydn and Mozart on the bill at Newbury church this weekend
Lovers of the classical period will find much to delight them in the next concert by Newbury Choral Society. The concert features two giants of a prolific and exciting time in Austrian music, and will take place at St Nicolas Church on Saturday, at 7.30pm.
Under the expert guidance of Cathal Garvey, now a familiar figure to Newbury concert-goers, the choir will sing two late works by Joseph Haydn, accompanied by the London Ulysses Orchestra. Between the two choral works, the orchestra will also perform the 'Linz' Symphony (No. 36) by his friend and protégé Mozart.
Haydn returned in triumph to Vienna in 1795, having cemented his reputation as a composer of symphonies and string quartets. He then turned his remarkable talents to the composition of vocal and choral works, including his famous oratorios, his six late masses and the Te Deum for the Empress Maria Therese. Haydn was a welcome visitor at the imperial palace in Vienna, where he would often accompany the Empress to indulge her great love of singing. She appears to have asked repeatedly for a specially composed work of sacred music, which Haydn finally provided in the form of the Te Deum.
Haydn’s later masses were composed for the Esterházy family, his old employers, to celebrate the name day of Princess Maria von Hermenegild. The mass officially titled Missa Sancti Bernardi von Offida was first performed in 1796. The setting of the Sanctus to an Austrian tune popular at the time gave rise to the title Heiligmesse. These great masses by Haydn further enhanced his reputation, incidentally also providing ideas that influenced later composers.
Mozart and his wife stayed in Linz on their way back from Vienna to Salzburg in 1783, only to discover that, having heard of their impending visit, a local dignitary had advertised a concert to include a symphony from the great composer. In four days he wrote and fully orchestrated Symphony No. 36 in C major.
Concert tickets are available online at www.newburychoral.org.uk and from choir members.