Tales from the Stave

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Tales from the Stave: Mozart's Haffner Symphony

Mozart's Haffner Symphony

BBC Radio 4 - Tales from the Stave, Mozart's Haffner Symphony

A celebration of Mozart's genius through the autograph manuscript of his Haffner Symphony.

Clemency Burton Hill is joined by conductor David Robertson at the Morgan Library in New York City, to explore the autograph manuscript of Mozart's Symphony No.35, the Haffner.

In a programme recorded before Covid 19 caused the closure of libraries and museums across the world, Clemency Burton Hill is joined by conductor David Robertson and scholar Richard Kramer at The Morgan Library in New York to explore the manuscript of Mozart's Symphony No.35 The Haffner.
Written at the behest of his father for an old friend it was completed at breakneck speed.  So fast, in fact, that when Mozart asked his father to send the music back to him a few months later for a concert he was putting on in Vienna, he scarcely remembered it. 
The manuscript is one of the treasures of The Morgan collection, demonstrating, as it does the work of a man at the height of his powers and able to deliver musical thoughts directly onto paper with rare moments of indecision or lapses in concentration. 
However the manuscript has a story beyond the compositional process.  It comes complete with a lavish case specially made for it when it was presented to King Ludwig of Bavaria.  As well as exploring the brilliance of the musical creation, Clemency's guests, including the Morgan's then music curator Fran Barulich, tell the story of its journey from being one of the many manuscripts left to Mozart's wife Constanza on his untimely death, to its appearance on the market in the United States two hundred years later.

Producer:  Tom Alban

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