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Haydn Night “Trauer“ with Giovanni Antonini and Il Giardino Armonico pm: CONCERT IL GIARDINO ARMONICO GIOVANNI ANTONINI, CONDUCTOR Joseph Haydn (1732-1809): Symphony in B flat major Hob. I:108, “Trauer“ (1762) Symphony in C minor Hob. I:52 (1771) Interval (20 minutes) Samuel Scheidt (1587–1654): Paduan a 4 from “Ludi Musici Prima Pars“ (Hamburg, 1621) Arvo Pärt (1935*): “Da Pacem Domine“ for string orchestra (2004/2006) Joseph Haydn (1732–1809): Symphony no. 44 E Minor Hob. I:44 “Trauer“ (1770/1771) By Giovanni Antonini The idea of the nineteenth Haydn2032 project is to span the broadest imaginable arc in chronological and stylistic terms, embracing two dramatic minor-key symphonies by our master, a pavan by the composer Samuel Scheidt that dates from a century and a half earlier, and a musical prayer for peace composed by our contemporary Arvo Pärt. The common thread linking all these works is that they deal with the theme of death and mourning. Even though the Paduan a 4 selected for our programme comes from a collection of ‘musical games’ published in 1621, I have always felt that this piece in particular (which I love very much) possesses a special kind of inherent sadness and melancholy, a sentiment associated with events that have had a decisive impact on people’s lives, and not only in the first half of the seventeenth century. This was the time of the Thirty Years War, an era of religiously motivated conflicts that were waged with extreme brutality – and whose consequences seemingly reverberate right up to the present, as many a terrorist attack in our own day has sadly demonstrated. Da pacem Domine, commissioned from Pärt by my esteemed colleague Jordi Savall, is dedicated to the memory of the victims of one such attack – it took place in Madrid on 11 March 2004 – and its contemplative character recalls the adagios and andantes of many symphonies by Joseph Haydn. Like that of the Estonian composer, Haydn‘s music, even when it sounds sad, is never imbued with despair. One of the reasons for this – symbolised by the phrase ‘laus Deo’, with which he habitually graced the end of his scores – may lie in his positive, healthy and enlightened attitude towards matters of religion. Haydn2032 In the lead-up to the 300th anniversary of Joseph Haydn's birth in 2032, the Joseph Haydn Foundation in Basel is organising, producing and financing the performance and recording of all 107 of the composer's symphonies by Il Giardino Armonico and Basel Chamber Orchestra under the artistic direction of Giovanni Antonini, one of the most highly-respected specialists in baroque, early classical and classical music, with its project Haydn2032. The first fourteen volumes have been released on the Alpha Classics label with two further volumes planned for release every year. Joseph Haydn Foundation, Haydn2032 (c) Emin Özmen, Magnum Photos
