Composer of the Week: Haydn

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Composer of the Week

Music: Classical

An informative guide to composers' lives and their music.

An informative and accessible guide to composers' lives and their music.

Composer of the Week: Joseph Haydn (1732-1809): Man of the People

Joseph Haydn

Man of the People

Joseph Haydn (1732-1809)

BBC Radio 3 - Composer of the Week, Joseph Haydn (1732-1809), Man of the People

Donald Macleod focuses his attention on Haydn’s humanity.

Donald Macleod focuses his attention on Haydn’s humanity; a man of exceptional character with a warm, generous personality and a great sense of humour.

Donald Macleod focuses his attention on Joseph Haydn’s humanity; a man of exceptional character with a warm, generous personality, and a great sense of humour.

Joseph Haydn’s prodigious creativity earned him the titles Father of the Symphony and Father of the String Quartet.  However, he was also occupied with sacred music throughout his career.  This week, as Donald Macleod follows Haydn’s journey from humble choirboy to Europe’s most celebrated composer, he shines the spotlight on music from Haydn’s many settings of the Mass.  It's music that is as chock-full of invention and character as any of the instrumental forms he made his own.

A man with his roots firmly in the country, Haydn never allowed his fame to make him feel he was anything but ordinary. Despite working for the grandest noble family in Austria, and having his music performed all across Europe.  Today, Donald looks at how Haydn’s fortune might have been very different, had he opted for a career in the Church.

Mass in B flat major ‘Harmoniemesse’: Kyrie and Gloria
Nancy Argenta, soprano
Pamela Helen Stephen, mezzo-soprano
Mark Padmore, tenor
Stephen Varcoe, baritone
Collegium Musicum 90
Richard Hickox, conductor

Symphony No 94 in G major ‘Surprise’: movt II Andante
London Philharmonic Orchestra
Sir Georg Solti, conductor

Mass in B flat major ‘Theresienmesse’: Kyrie and Gloria
Janice Watson, soprano
Pamela Helen Stephen, mezzo-soprano
Mark Padmore, tenor
Stephen Varcoe, baritone
Collegium Musicum 90
Richard Hickox, conductor

String Quartet in B minor Op 64 No 2
The Salomon Quartet
Simon Standage, violin
Micaela Comberti, violin
Trevor Jones, viola
Jennifer Ward Clarke, cello

Mass in B flat major ‘Harmoniemesse’: Sanctus and Benedictus
Nancy Argenta, soprano
Pamela Helen Stephen, mezzo-soprano
Mark Padmore, tenor
Stephen Varcoe, baritone
Collegium Musicum 90
Richard Hickox, conductor

Producer: Eleri Llian Rees for BBC Cymru Wales

Composer of the Week: Joseph Haydn (1732-1809)

Live music and the arts: broadcasts more live music than any other radio network. Classical music is its core. Genres include world and new music, jazz, speech and drama.

Donald Macleod shines the spotlight on music from Haydn's many settings of the Mass.

Donald Macleod follows Haydn's journey from humble choirboy to Europe's most celebrated composer and shines the spotlight on music from Haydn's many settings of the Mass.

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Joseph Haydn (1732-1809)

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