Mozart + Haydn - 21 Mar 2024

The Chamber Orchestra concludes its season on March 21 with this spring concert featuring the music of Mozart and Haydn. Internationally acclaimed violin virtuoso George Maxman performs Mozart's Violin Concerto No. 5 in a Major (Turkish). The program opens with the overture to the comic opera "Fidelta Premiata" by Joseph Haydn. The concert and the season conclude with Haydn's Symphony No. 83 (The Hen).

In addition to his prowess as a pianist, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was a highly accomplished violinist. During his early tours of Europe, Mozart astonished audiences with his command of both instruments. Mozart's father, Leopold, himself a fine violinist, once admonished his son, "You don't realize yourself how well you play the violin when you are on your mettle and perform with confidence, spirit and fire." Mozart's Fifth Violin Concerto is considered the richest and most innovative of Mozart's violin concertos. It is full of innovations, especially the "Turkish" episode in the finale, during which the basses help create the "Janissary" music (Turkish military march) which was popular in Vienna at the time. They slap the wood of their bows against the strings to create a military band effect. The concerto is considered the first great violin concerto.

George Maxman was born in Moscow, Russia. He attended the Moscow Conservatory, studying violin with David Oistrakh and composition with Dmitri Kabalevsky. He emigrated from the Soviet Union in 1980 and has built an international career, with teaching and performing in Australia (Sydney, Melbourne, and Perth symphonies), the United States (Houston, Boston symphonies), Canada (Symphony Nova Scotia), and China (Shanghai Conservatory Symphony Orchestra as conductor). He has taught violin in each of the countries, and his students have been top prize winners in numerous competitions. He and his wife reside in Bradenton, Florida. He is a consummate musician and virtuoso.

"La fedelta premiata" was premiered in 1781 at the dedication of the newly-built theatre in Esterháza, where it was to become one of the most frequently performed operas. It is a masterpiece, blending comic and serious opera. The exciting overture radiates energy and beauty. Haydn used it as the finale of his Symphony No. 73 under the name "La chasse", and the hunt also forms the mythological framework which dominates the opera. The plot unfolds around the temple of Diana, the goddess of hunting, who at the end rewards true love and punishes wrongdoings. All the characters are hunters and hunted, hunting for love and happiness in of comic and deliberate confusion. For the reason, the horns are featured prominently.

Haydn's Symphony No. 83 in G minor ("The Hen") came into being as a result of a commission in 1784 from the board of directors of the Parisian concert society, the Concert de la Loge Olympique. The commission was for six symphonies, which became known as the "Paris" Symphonies.
The timing of this commission was perfect for Haydn. In 1779, his contract as Kapellmeister with the court of Prince Nicolaus Esterházy had been renewed with a new provision freeing him from composing exclusively for his employer and allowing him to accept outside commissions. This new situation allowed Haydn the extravagance of composing for orchestral forces considerably larger than the small band at the Esterházy Palace. In an interesting coincidence, the premieres of the Paris symphonies was conducted by Joseph Bologne Chevalier St. Georges, whose Symphony Concertante was featured on the Chamber Orchestra's February 29 concert. The title "The Hen" was not chosen by Haydn: a nineteenth century writer gave the symphony the name because of the 'clucking' sound of the second theme in the first movement. The symphony is by turn stormy and jocular and one of Haydn's most popular works.