It describes nature and peoples relationship to nature during the year. Freely downloadable classical music mp3s from composer franz joseph haydn 31 mar 1732 rohrau 31 may 1809 vienna fhe first haydn edition. Discover more music, concerts, videos, and pictures with the largest catalogue online at. He also translated in the reverse direction, putting the german back into english in a way that would fit the rhythm of haydn s music. He was at the very height of his creative powers, and his inspiration had received a new jolt, as beethovens and schuberts were later to do, through his exposure to handel. The seasons was haydns followup to his successful the creation. Marc vignal once suggested that we consider them a single immense sacred. The seasons, a late work of haydns and the last oratorio he wrote, is a musical manifesto addressed to nature and the countryfolk, breaking ground with its hitherto unexplored subjectmatter as it heralds the dawning romantic era in music, thus occupying a special place in haydns oeuvre. It could easily seem slightly out of kilter with the times in which we live, but its protoecological message has perhaps never been more relevant, its sublimely fresh and vernal musical language a painful. The name franz was not used in the composers lifetime. Austria 1732 1809 534 sheet music 395 mp3 228 midi. A celebration in vienna with leonard bernstein 1970 duration. An oratorio is a long musical work with orchestra, choir and solo singers.
Haydn s the seasons is a twohour vocal work that praises god and nature and orchestrally imitates croaking frogs and lambs that gambol. Haydn objected to the text, both directly and abstractly. Haydn is writing with new zeal since he has had the good fortune to lose his nasty wife, noted the swedish diplomat fredrick silverstolpe in may 1800, when the composer was immersed in the seasons. Haydn s great late work in a modern urtext edition. Haydns oratorio or whatever the seasons received its first performance in 1801, the 70th year of the composers life. Rosemary made her solo debut at the royal albert hall singing messiah with the really big chorus, and was a semi. In failing health near the end of his musical career, haydn composed this work over two years while struggling with a libretto prepared by austrian nobleman baron gottfried van swieten, who also penned the libretto for haydn s popular the creation. Its pantheism at its grandest and the pathetic fallacy at its most glorious, with the whole of nature given voices to sing gods praises. Like haydn and mozart, haydns two late oratorios merit comparison and contrast. The seasons 17991801 joseph haydn 17321809 the seasons is scored for pairs of woodwinds plus piccolo and contrabassoon, three horns, three trumpets, three trombones, timpani, percussion,piano and strings. The work was, indeed, enormous, taking from 1798 to 1801 to complete, and the tireless effort which haydn lavished on the.
In failing health near the end of his musical career, haydn composed this work over two years while struggling with a libretto prepared by austrian nobleman baron gottfried van swieten, who also. Van swieten translated from english to german and adapted the source material, which came from an anonymous english libretto and james thomsons poem the seasons, respectively. Either way, this highlights reissue, first put out in 1975, three years after the recording of the complete work, would be a way of ensuring you can hear the best bits. A man for all seasons sometime before the first public performances of the creation, haydn had embarked on a new oratorio intended to form a kind of sequel. Order from your preferred classical music cd store arkivmusic. From the first blush of spring to impending winter, haydns exuberant oratorio, written close to the end of his life, encompasses a full year of living.
The text is based on the poem the seasons by english poet james thomson. The seasons thomas beecham on allmusic 2004 when thomas beecham died and went to heaven, he. Haydns reasons for using these instruments becomes clear as the work progresses, the more obvious moments being where a piccolo or oboe or bassoon emerges to highlight a detail of a scene, or where those famous haydn hunting horns rip through the atmosphere. Summer, autumn and winter are on the next pages here is a clickable table of the available midi files for this work. Vom durren oste dringt ein scharfer eishauch jetzt hervor haydn. The picture of thy life behold haydns oratorio the seasons.
Her oratorio work includes mozarts litaniae lauretanae. It usually tells a story from the old testament of the bible. This page lists all recordings of the seasons, hob. Joseph haydn 31 march or 1 april 173231 may 1809 was a leading composer of the classical period, called the father of the symphony and father of the string quartet. Spring is on the previous page, autumn and winter are on the next pages here is a clickable table of the available midi files for this work. The grant park orchestra and chorus first performed the work on august 16, 1980, ottowerner mueller. The seasons rene jacobs on allmusic 2004 embodying the highest ideals of the. Customers and visitors can download classical music in high quality flac or mp3 and find out more about classical music.
A celebration in vienna with leonard bernstein 1970. Barbara bonney soprano, anthony rolfe johnson tenor, andreas schmidt. The seasons an oratorio, though its content is secular and its form a loosely articulated series of evocative pieces. Ludwig van beethovens single oratorio, christus am olberg 1803. He is reported to have said of the seasons that it broke my back. This recording is the first to feature the large orchestral forces that haydn called for, including a string section of 60, 8 horns and a choir of 70thrilling stuff. Nikolaus harnoncourts first recording of the creation was a dud, and so is this remake. London symphonies, the seasons beecham with morison, elsie, young, alexander on cd. The seasons shows a great variety of musical styles, including large orchestral overtures for each of the four movements, solos, ensembles, and large choruses.
Haydn was led to write the seasons by the great success of his previous oratorio the creation. The libretto for the seasons was prepared for haydn, just as with the creation, by baron gottfried van swieten, an austrian nobleman who had. The work looks back to handel, to mozarts magic flute in some places, and to haydn himself in an aria from spring in which he quotes his own already proverbial theme from the. Silverstolpe later remarked that the subject is much more limited than that of the creation. Christ on the mount of olives, does not succeed, nor do most of those occasioned by the. Its odd, because you would expect him to be right at home in the musics colorful descriptive sections and moments of handelian grandeur, but right from the opening representation of chaos the performance runs aground. Haydn followed these instructions quite carefully, showing both his innate modesty and his ability to use any good idea, even if it came from someone whose level of composition was a great deal below his own. The seasons, a late work of haydns and the last oratorio he wrote, is a musical manifesto addressed to nature and the countryfolk, breaking ground with its hitherto unexplored subjectmatter as it heralds the dawning romantic era in music, thus o. But in the case of the seasons matters were a little different. Please consider purchasing a learning cd cyberbass learning cds.
It describes nature and peoples relationship to nature during the year the seasons was the last big work that haydn. Haydn s oratorio or whatever the seasons received its first performance in 1801, the 70th year of the composers life. The seasons sigcd480 joseph haydn 17321809 hyperion records mp3 and lossless downloads. From the first blush of spring to impending winter, haydn s exuberant oratorio, written close to the end of his life, encompasses a full year of living. T his successor to haydns creation has often felt in the shadow of the earlier masterpiece, but this recording brings it.
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