What's wrong with a great composer

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

In this year of the Olympics, one might at least have expected performances of the "London" symphony #104, the "Drumroll" symphony #103, the trumpet concerto and, if a British competitor(s) actually won gold, the "Surprise" symphony #84 and the "Miracle" symphony #96.

BTW And in my opinion, Haydn's string quartets were the blueprint for all the string chamber music that was to follow - even up to the present day.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

John Drummond, when he was in charge of the Proms, said something to the effect of "People in Britain have never taken to Haydn's music", a comment which I still find bizarre (and wrong).

Historically, this is obviously false, but presumably he was talking from experience as programmer for the 20th Century Proms, Edinburgh Festivals et al?

[aeolium]

Historically, this is obviously false, but presumably he was talking from experience as programmer for the 20th Century Proms, Edinburgh Festivals et al?

Yet, as John Skelton has mentioned, Glock's time in charge of the Proms saw Haydn programmed more frequently. But if you look at Drummond's own period of Proms stewardship, 1987-1995, the number of Haydn works per season rarely exceeds 4 and is sometimes as low as 1 or 2 (an all-Haydn concert in 1992 producing an unusual high of 8). If he really believed that about the British not taking to Haydn in recent times, wasn't it his responsibility to try and change that misguided attitude? After all, he was not shy of doing that with other composers much more difficult to programme in Britain than Haydn.

My own suspicion is that Drummond did not particularly care for Haydn's music and was perhaps ascribing his own indifference to the British public as a way of justifying the lack of Haydn in his Proms programmes.

[MrGongGong]

aaah yes, Haydn that completely unknown and overlooked composer
you NEVER hear any of his works performed at all do you ?
I mean it's not as if they EVER play any of his quartets at the Wigmore Hall

[aeolium]

I mean it's not as if they EVER play any of his quartets at the Wigmore Hall

Wasn't this thread about Haydn at the Proms?

[MrGongGong]

Wasn't this thread about Haydn at the Proms?

indeed
such an unknown composer
deserves to have more exposure don't you think ?

[aeolium]

deserves to have more exposure don't you think ?

Yes, than he is getting this year or got last year

[MrGongGong]

Yes, than he is getting this year or got last year

There's nothing wrong with Haydn
but to suggest that somehow there is a "vendetta" against playing his music
is ridiculous ............

[Hornspieler]

I absolutely agree with you - and I too think Haydn is a very under-rated composer. And I will happily go on playing his wonderful quartets until the end of time. (And some of them are damned hard technically too!)

Best wishes - Ariosto

Thanks for that, Ari.

I have a very fine recording taken off-air of my wife's quartet playing Op. 76 Nº 2 in D minor.

Damned hard is putting it mildly. That 1st violin part is a killer - and the others also have it tough in places.

With Haydn, there is no place to hide. (Play Haydnseek?)

HS

[Boilk]

It's no coincidence that the nicknamed symphonies tend to be more popular, but it unfairly eclipses the the 'merely' numbered ones.

Would be interesting to see some performance stats of nicknamed-versus-numbered for this genre over the last three centuries. The same goes for sonatas.