Joshua Weilerstein conducts the 91热爆 Philharmonic Orchestra this afternoon in a concert from MediaCityUK, broadcast live on 91热爆 Radio 3.
This is a concert is full of 鈥榝irsts鈥� 鈥� or, to be more precise, the first symphonies of four celebrated composers of the Classical period: Haydn, Mozart, CPE Bach and Beethoven. Today, we鈥檒l hear the development of the symphony throughout the eighteenth century via the immense talents of these titans.
Joseph Haydn鈥檚 influence on the symphony was immeasurable, and it was during his lifetime that the symphony came to be regarded as the most exalted form a composer could use. Haydn has come to be known as the 鈥楩ather of the symphony鈥� and he ended his career an international celebrity, a million miles from his origins as a plucky freelancer hoping for a break. His first stroke of luck was to secure a permanent role as Kapellmeister with a Bohemian aristocrat, in whose employ he composed 13 symphonies, starting with Symphony No. 1 in D. He would go on to publish more than 90 other symphonies in a career spanning several decades.
Haydn was already in his early thirties when a German child prodigy came to write his own first symphony. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was just eight years old and on a grand tour of Europe with his family when he embarked on Symphony No. 1 in E flat (K 16). An exercise in beautiful simplicity, it speaks to the young composer鈥檚 interest in Johann Christian Bach, whose brother Carl Philipp Emanuel we hear from next.
CPE Bach鈥檚 Sinfonia in D recalls the origins of the symphonic form in the Baroque period, whilst exploring an exciting 鈥楽turm und Drang鈥� sound, full of rousing action and high emotion.
With such esteemed elders, a young Ludwig van Beethoven had his pick of inspiration, and yet his own voice rings clear and true in his own first symphony. In fact, Holy Roman Emperor Francis II is reported to have said, 鈥淭here is something revolutionary in that music!鈥� upon hearing the premiere in 1800. And thus, on the cusp of the Romantic period, the symphony began to look to the future, in the hands of a true visionary.
