J. Haydn - The Creation (Hob. XXI:2) (German Version)

Haydn's great oratorio attempts to bring us closer to the creation of the world, to the creative work of God, through musical means. The wonderful music creates an unspoiled, naïve view of the creation, focusing above all on the deep, human wonder at the beauty of creation, God's marvelous work.

The three textual sources are the Book of Genesis, the Book of Psalms, and John Milton's Genesis epos Paradise Lost. The material was adapted into an oratorio libretto originally intended for Handel. However, Handel never set it to music. Haydn's host in England, Johann Peter Salomon, came into possession of a copy of that libretto and passed it on to Haydn, who had become acquainted with Handel's oratorios in England and wanted to try to create such a work with the stylistic means of Viennese Classicism.

When Haydn returned to Vienna, he handed it over to his friend and patron Baron Gottfried van Swieten, who arranged for a German translation. The composition was written between October 1796 and April 1798 and was inspirational to Haydn, and according to his own statement, a fundamental religious experience. He worked on the project to exhaustion and fell seriously ill after the premiere. The Creation was first performed under the composer's direction on April 29 and 30, 1798, at the Schwarzenberg City Palace, which no longer exists.

These preliminary performances took place before a closed audience and allowed Haydn to make corrections in preparation for the public premiere. This performance, also very successful, took place on March 19, 1799, at the old Burgtheater in Vienna. A re-translation of the text into English then followed. The first English performance took place in 1800 at Covent Garden in London. Subsequently, the work was performed all over Europe and is still part of the classical repertoire worldwide with countless performances and recordings.

Joseph Haydn (1732-1809)

Joseph Haydn was born on March 31, 1732, into a musical family living in poor circumstances in Rohrau (Lower Austria). At the age of eight he came to St. Stephan as a choirboy. After his voice broke, he left the choir. For the next ten years he worked as a music teacher and repetitor and helped out as a singer at masses on Sundays and holidays. He became a valet and accompanist to the Italian composer Nicola Porpora and lived in poor conditions in an apartment on Michaelerplatz. In 1759, at the age of 26, Haydn became music director and composer at the court of Prince Morzin, for whom he wrote his first symphonies and instrumental works. In 1761 he came to the court of the Esterházys, a very wealthy aristocratic family. There he developed his own style and experimented with the just emerging style of Viennese Classicism.

In his younger years, Haydn wrote mostly instrumental music for the prince's table music and concerts, which were held every two weeks. He also wrote about 125 trios in ten years for the prince's instrument, the baryton. In 1790 Nicholas (Prince Miklós) Esterházy died and his son Prince Antal had no interest in music. Nevertheless, Haydn remained in his service, but had the freedom to move to Vienna and travel.

During his first trip to London in 1791-1792, he was awarded an honorary doctorate by Oxford University. Haydn composed his last twelve symphonies, the so-called Salomon or London symphonies, for performances in London, which became great successes. Haydn spent the last ten years of his life in Vienna, writing a large number of masses in the Austrian Mass tradition.

Following this great success, Haydn composed The Seasons (1799-1801), which he completed at the age of 67. This work marks not only the beginning of a new century, but also the transition from objective classicism to more subjective romanticism. Haydn died peacefully on May 31, 1809, in Vienna, where many of his admirers kept vigil outside the house.

W. A. Mozart - Coronation Mass (KV 317)

After Mozart's unlucky trips to Mannheim and Paris, he reluctantly returned to Salzburg in 1779, in service as court organist and concertmaster to Archbishop Hieronymus von Colloredo.

It is very likely that the Mass was composed for the Easter service at Salzburg Cathedral on April 4, 1779; Mozart himself dated it March 23, 1779. This assumption is supported by the large orchestration and the fact that the violas are missing, as was customary in Salzburg at the time. How Mozart's Mass in C major came to be nicknamed the Coronation Mass, which first appeared in 1873, is still disputed today.

Immediately after Mozart's death, the Mass became the preferred composition for services at imperial and royal coronations as well as thanksgiving services. It was probably first used as part of the coronation festivities for Emperor Franz II. The name Coronation Mass, which was probably originally used internally by the orchestra, soon became commonplace, starting with the Vienna Hofmusikkapelle.

For a long time, it was assumed that the composer had written it on the occasion of the jubilee of the image of the Virgin Mary in the pilgrimage church of Maria Plain near Salzburg. An unprovable statement that stubbornly persists.

G. F. Handel - Dettingen Te Deum (HWV 283) (English Version)

2023 marks both the 280th anniversary of the composition and the Battle of Dettingen. Handel composed the Dettingen Te Deum for a thanksgiving service to mark the victory of the Austro-British military under the command of King George II and Lord Stair over French forces at the Battle of Dettingen on June 27, 1743. After the king's return, a day of public thanksgiving was scheduled, and Handel, then "Composer of the Musick to the Chapel Royal," was commissioned to write a Te Deum for the occasion. The work was composed between July 17 and 29, 1743, and premiered on November 27, 1743, in the Chapel Royal of St. James's Palace in London in the presence of George II.

The Dettingen Te Deum is a glorious example of how Handel was able to set the tone for festive occasions in an unparalleled manner. Handel gives expression to the sublime character of the official work with extensive use of timpani and trumpets. Gentler and more serious movements complement the work effectively. The textual basis is the early church Te Deum in the English version of the Book of Common Prayer. The sound impression of the broadly conceived work is determined by the choruses. A number of references to the "Messiah," composed shortly before, are conspicuous.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)

The youngest child and only surviving son of the Austrian composer Leopold Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus received his early musical education from his father. His musical talent was evident from the very beginning, and as a result Mozart is considered one of the greatest musical geniuses of all.

At the age of six, Wolfgang and his very talented sister "Nannerl" went on their first major tour with their father to the most important ruling courts of Europe, where they delighted audiences with virtuoso concerts on the harpsichord. This concert tour was to be followed by many more. Of all the places where Mozart gave concerts during his travels, it was Italy where he received the greatest joy and recognition.

After that followed a rather disappointing period for father and son. As Mozart grew older, his popularity waned and he initially had trouble finding work. Eventually Mozart was offered the position of court and cathedral organist by the Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg. At the beginning of 1781, the commissioned work, the opera Idomeneo, was premiered in Munich for the Regent of Bavaria. The success of the opera strengthened Mozart's decision to move to Vienna, where he was favorably received by the nobility.

He thus spent the last ten years of his life, often in straitened financial circumstances, in Vienna with his wife, the singer Constanze Weber. Initial success with German and Italian opera and with a large number of concerts was followed by a period of great financial difficulties. Although this development had no direct effect on Mozart's music, it eventually destroyed his health. Mozart became seriously ill and died on the morning of December 5, 1791. Mozart was buried in an ordinary tombstone-less grave in Vienna, at the St. Marx cemetery.

Georg Friedrich Händel (1685-1759)

The year 1685 brought forth the two most important composers of the Baroque era. Besides Johann Sebastian Bach, George Frideric Handel was born in this year. Already famous during his lifetime, Handel gained the greatest recognition during his time as a court composer for the English crown, when he wrote world-famous works such as the Coronation Anthems and Messiah. Especially in the genre of oratorios and operas there was no comparable composer at that time. Since then, Handel has enjoyed a reputation as a true grand master of choral music - a legacy that can still be heard and admired today.

The young George Frideric Handel spent four years traveling through Italy to learn the intricacies of Italian opera and the craft of composition from such masters of the day as Corelli, Scarlatti and others. In 1710 he took up the post of Kapellmeister to the Elector of Hanover (later to become King George I of Great Britain). Handel's first years in London were secured by royal and aristocratic patronage, such as the Duke of Chandos, for whom Handel composed the Chandos Anthems.

In 1719 Handel took over the direction of the newly founded Royal Academy of Music to perform operas in the Italian style. He retained this role until the mid-1730s, when fashions changed. In 1737 Handel began to suffer from a serious illness, probably the effects of a stroke. The focus of his works shifted to oratorios and music for the new middle class. The oratorios Saul and Israel in Egypt were premiered in 1738, and Messiah four years later.

It is not known whether Handel ever met Johann Sebastian Bach, although they were contemporaries (both were born within a month of each other) and grew up in Halle and Eisenach, which are less than 200 km apart. These two old masters of Baroque music are stylistically different, partly because they composed for very different audiences. Handel for the theater and Bach for church and court. Bach is credited with having said "Handel is the only person I would wish to see before I die and the only person I would wish to be if I were not Bach." Beethoven himself called Handel the greatest composer with the quote "Handel, before him I go down on my knees."