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To mark the 200th anniversary of his death ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Radio 3 presents a series of programming on Haydn, an international superstar composer who, in his day, was considered more famous than Mozart.

Haydn is one of the most important of all classical composers. However, his work is not regarded as a box-office hit.

Despite enjoying immense popularity in his day, Haydn lost public appeal and slipped into decline as his great achievements became eclipsed by the likes of Mozart and Beethoven.

Haydn's own story of quiet revolution is overshadowed by the now fabled accounts of his contemporaries' tortured artistic struggles, their lives touched by drama and tragedy.

As part of an ambitious year of programming which celebrates the anniversaries of four Composers Of The Year, Radio 3 redresses the balance and takes a fresh look at Haydn's great achievements.

A special season of programming includes performances, documentaries, discussions and drama which celebrate Haydn the composer – the father of the symphony and the string quartet – and Haydn the man, a popular individual whose appeal has been unfairly diminished due, in part, to his genial character.

Adam Gatehouse, Editor of the Radio 3 Haydn season, says: "In many ways Haydn's legacy has been tainted by the fact that he was an ordinary man whose personal story wasn't made myth. He didn't die a young pauper like Mozart, nor was he seen as a revolutionary like Beethoven.

"Haydn was a superstar who managed to lead a balanced life and in some ways he has been penalised for this. He's still viewed as a box-office disaster and this is a wonderful opportunity for us to celebrate his huge achievements.

"He was one of the great originals who defined both the string quartet and symphony for future generations."

Conductor Sir Roger Norrington says: "Haydn Symphonies are just as good as Mozart's – perhaps they just need a little more imagination in playing."

Pianist Alfred Brendel says: "Haydn is the treasure of the sophisticated listener. I, for one, expect to be listening to his quartets and symphonies for the rest of my life."

Radio 3's Haydn season launches on 31 May 2009 with a special day devoted to live performances of his music from across Europe.

Presented by Andrew MacGregor, the day takes in Esterhazy, Paris, Oxford, London and Vienna and performers include the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, the Academy of Ancient Music, Nikolaus Harnoncourt and the Leipzig String Quartet amongst others.

Other highlights of the Radio 3 Haydn season include a programme presented by Sir Robert Winston which tells the gruesome tale of how Haydn's head was taken from his grave in order that the secret of his genius be discovered (10 July, The Essay) and a special edition of Music Matters (6 June) in which presenter Tom Service talks to conductor Sir Colin Davis, pianist Alfred Brendel, and other musicians about what Haydn means to them.

There will also be a special Haydn mini-drama and throughout the season there will be a wealth of musical riches to enjoy, including:

• Haydn Day: 31 May
• Complete Symphonies in Radio 3's Classical Collection
• The Piano Sonatas in Radio 3's Breakfast
• The great Quartets in Afternoon On 3
• The Creation at the Proms: 18 July
• Alfred Brendel, Roger Norrington, Sir Robert Winston, Colin Davis, Nikolaus Harnoncourt and Peter Cropper are among those talking about Haydn
• A week of concerts on Performance On 3 including a rare performance of the oratorio The Return Of Tobias

Online

Go to the Radio 3 Composers of the Year site – bbc.co.uk/composers – to find out more about Haydn and the broadcasts on Radio 3 throughout 2009.

Notes to Editors

Complete list of Haydn programming on ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Radio 3

EBU Haydn Day, 31 May 2009, 11.00am-11.00pm
Radio 3's Haydn focus launches on 31 May with a day of live performances of his music from across Europe, highlighting the cities and places that were particularly important in his life. The day starts and ends in Esterhazy, where Haydn was based for such a long and fruitful period of his life, and where his long association with the Esterhazy Court, firstly as vice-Kappellmeister and later as Kapellmeister, was to inspire an astonishing body of work. It takes in Paris, Oxford (where he was given an Honorary Doctorate), London (a performance given by Florilegium of two of his London Symphonies in arrangements by his London patron Salomon) and, of course, Vienna from where we will hear a concert featuring one of his greatest masses – Missa in Tempori Belli with the Concentus Musikus Vienna conducted by Nikolaus Harnoncourt. Other performers during the day include the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, the Academy of Ancient Music, Paul Goodwin, Ton Koopman and the Leipzig String Quartet. Throughout the day we will be hearing about different facets of Haydn from commentators and performers including Richard Wigmore (whose recent Haydn biography has been highly praised), Sir Roger Norrington, Sir Colin Davis and Nikolaus Harnoncourt. And we will be taken on a trail round Haydn's haunts in London and Vienna, and a tour of the Sheldonian Theatre in Oxford where Haydn received his Honorary Degree.
Presenter: Andrew MacGregor.

Breakfast – Piano Sonata series, 31 June-19 July 2009, approx 9.00am
"There can hardly be another such corpus of outstanding and fascinating works by one of the great masters so wilfully ignored by performers, nor one so frequently misunderstood" – John McCabe (pianist and composer)
From the final weekend of May (coinciding with the EBU's Haydn day), until the middle of July, Radio 3's Breakfast programme will include one of Haydn's Piano Sonatas each day. In order to help to dispel the ignorance and misunderstanding that McCabe refers to (and which his own recordings of the sonatas have helped to change at least a little) the programme will be including a wide variety of performers and performing styles. As well as sampling the half-dozen "complete recordings" there will be performances by great (and very different) pianists who play the Haydn sonatas on a modern grand piano – such as Alfred Brendel, Glenn Gould and Emanuel Ax – and those who have explored the works on historic instruments. The sound of the harpsichord, fortepiano and even clavichord will feature over the seven weeks of programmes. Let's hope that afterwards there'll be a little less ignorance and misunderstandings!

The complete Haydn Symphonies in Classical Collection on Wednesdays and Fridays throughout 2009
During the whole of 2009, starting in January, Classical Collection is presenting a complete cycle of the 104 Haydn Symphonies in great performances from across the whole spectrum of recordings, from Toscanini, Furtwangler and Beecham, to the very latest scholarly thoughts from the likes of Harnoncourt, Hogwood, Adam Fisher and Trevor Pinnock. And, of course, not forgetting the pioneering set conducted by Antal Dorati, nor the genial prize-winning performances by Colin Davis. And, dotted across the year, the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ's own orchestras will be performing a number of these symphonies live at 11.00am.

LSO St Luke's Lunchtime Haydn series, 2-5 June 2009, 1.00pm
In the first week of June there is a series of elegantly beautiful chamber music in lunchtime concerts recorded at LSO St Luke's Jerwood Hall. The Michelangelo Quartet perform two of Haydn's best-known quartets, the Razor and the Sunrise, and the Vienna Piano Trio have two concerts of Haydn trios, written when the piano was becoming an increasingly popular instrument in the home. There is also the intimate Haydn, with a programme performed on the fortepiano by Andreas Staier who draws an astonishing range of tone colours from a typical instrument of the composer's time.

2 June 2009
Haydn Sonata in E flat major Hob XVI/49
Haydn Sonata in F minor Var Hob XVII/6
Haydn Sonata in E flat Hob XVI/52
Andreas Staier, fortepiano

3 June 2009
Haydn Piano Trio in E minor Hob XV/12
Haydn Piano Trio in D major Hob XV/24
Haydn Piano Trio in F sharp minor Hob XV/26
Haydn Piano Trio in G major Hob XV/25 Gypsy Rondo
Vienna Piano Trio

4 June 2009
Haydn String Quartet in F minor Op 55 No 2
Haydn String Quartet in B-flat minor Op 76 No 4 Sunrise
Michelangelo Quartet

5 June 2009
Haydn Piano Trio in E flat major Hob XV/29
Haydn Piano Trio in E flat major Hob XV/31 Jacob's Dream
Haydn Piano Trio in A major Hob XV/18
Haydn Piano Trio in C major Hob XV/27
Vienna Piano Trio

Afternoon On 3: Haydn Quartets, 1 June-17 July, Monday to Friday, 2.00pm
Haydn has widely been dubbed the inventor of the string quartet. From its humble beginnings Haydn developed this form into one of the most expressive, intimate and profound of all musical genres, and was the direct inspiration of the great quartets of Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert. Between 1 June and 17 July Afternoon On 3 will be playing all the mature Haydn Quartets every afternoon in performances recorded at London's Wigmore Hall by some of the finest quartets in the world including the Hagen, Jerusalem, Belcea, Endellion, Mosaiques and Ebene Quartets. Guiding us through these extraordinary and varied masterpieces are Peter Cropper, former leader of the Lindsay Quartet, who performed all of Haydn's quartets, and viola player Simon Rowland-Jones, former member of the Chilingirian Quartet and currently editor of the new edition of the complete Haydn Quartets.

Haydn in Performance On 3, 6-10 July 2009, 7.00pm
For five evenings from 6 to 10 July Performance On 3 focuses on Haydn with a rich picking of some of the concert highlights of the Haydn bi-centenary, including a rare performance of his oratorio The Return Of Tobias by the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment conducted by Roger Norrington, The Seasons from Glasgow with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and the Florestan Trio from Wigmore Hall.

6 July 2009
OAE/Norrington
Haydn: The Return of Tobias
Nicholls, Crowe, Hallenberg, Maltman, Kennedy
London Queen Elizabeth Hall

7 July 2009
Florestan Trio
Haydn: Piano Trio in D H.15.24
Haydn: Piano Trio in E H.15.28
Smetana: Piano Trio in G minor Op.15
London Wigmore Hall

8 July 2009
SCO/Elts
Haydn: The Seasons
Watts, Ainsley, Williams
Glasgow City Halls

9 July 2009
Florilegium/Ashley Solomon
Haydn Symphony No. 98 in B flat (arr. Salomon)
Haydn String Quartet in C minor Op. 17 No. 4
Haydn Flute Trio in G Op. 38 No. 4
Haydn Symphony No. 103 in E flat Drumroll (arr. Salomon)
London Wigmore Hall

10 July 2009
OAE/Gardner
Haydn: Symphonies nos 7 in C (Le Midi); 64 in A (Tempora Mutantur)
Mozart: Flute Concerto No.2 in D K314
Haydn: Symphony No.90 in C
Lisa Beznosiuk
London Queen Elizabeth Hall

Haydn at the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Proms
Haydn features prominently in the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Proms this summer, starting with a performance of The Creation in English with the Gabrieli Consort conducted by Paul McCreesh on Saturday 18 July, several of his symphonies and string quartets, and the Trumpet Concerto performed by former ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ New Generation Artist Alison Balsom at the Last Night.

Early Music Show, 27 & 28 June 2009, 1.00pm
Lucie Skeaping presents two programmes from the Palace of Esterhazy looking at Haydn's life and work there, with music from the period. On the Saturday, Lucie talks to Michael Brussing of The Esterhazy Ensemble and is given a brief history and masterclass on the baryton, an instrument for which Haydn wrote so much music. On the Sunday, Lucie visits Wolfgang Wechselbaumer at his workshop in Vienna, and is given a demonstration on the lira organizzata, which Herr Wechselbaumer reconstructed for the recent recording of Haydn's concertos for that unusual instrument.

Haydn Mini-Drama, Farewell Symphony by Stephen Wyatt (specially commissioned by the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ), 10 September 2009 (¾±²Ô³Ù±ð°ù±¹²¹±ôÌý³Ù´ÇÌý±Ê°ù´Ç³¾)
In 1809 Haydn was housebound and cared for by his faithful assistant, Elssler. He was no longer strong enough to compose. He just played his setting of the hymn to the Kaiser over and over again. Just after his 77th birthday, Austria declared war on France for a second time. Haydn was distraught. His little home at Gumpendorf, often described by visitors as a peaceful retreat, was caught in crossfire. A cannonball fell in his courtyard and blew his bedroom door open. Napoleon, aware that the great Haydn was frail, ordered a guard of honour be stationed at his house. On 24 May 1809, Haydn received his last visitor – a French officer from the Hussars paid his respects and the two men started a conversation about Haydn's work. Haydn, whose spirits were at rock bottom, rediscovered for the last time the impact his music had had. The officer sang for him and Haydn exclaimed that he could not recall any song having given him so much real pleasure. The officer rode off to rejoin his regiment, probably to die in battle. His singing was the last music Haydn ever heard.

The Essay, 6-10 July 2009, 11.00pm
Five programmes spotlighting different aspects of Haydn the man

Haydn And God
Haydn was a devout Roman Catholic who prefaced many of his manuscripts, not just the sacred ones, with the words "In nomine Domini" (In the name of the Lord) and wrote "Laus Deo" (Praise to God) at the end. His first and last completed works were mass-settings. He lived at a time of religious turmoil as the church was faced by the world of the Enlightenment. Dr David Stancliffe, Bishop of Salisbury and a practising musician, examines how Haydn's faith affected his approach to life and music.

Haydn And Unusual Musical Instruments
As a court employee Haydn was asked to write music for a wide variety of instruments – some of them obscure to us. Prince Nikolaus Esterhazy played the baryton (a sort of viola da gamba with extra strings plucked by the left-hand thumb), so Haydn wrote for it. The King of Naples played the lira organizzata (a combined hurdy gurdy and chamber organ), so Haydn wrote for it too. Even the famous Trumpet Concerto was originally composed for the new-fangled keyed trumpet. David Owen Norris explores the world of Haydn as court composer and discovers more about both the music and the instruments.

Haydn And Humour
Haydn's music is famously riddled with jokes – from rude bassoon notes, comic retunings and surprise endings to delight his audience, to more subtle in-jokes and compositional horseplay to amuse his fellow professionals. Writer and broadcaster Stephen Johnson celebrates one of the composer's most familiar and endearing characteristics, and examines the factors that led him to debunk his own music over and again.

Haydn, Nature And Science
In 1792 Haydn paid a visit to one of the celebrity scientists of the day, William Herschel, at his observatory in Slough. Herschel had discovered Uranus and framed important theories about the formation of galaxies, yet within a few years Haydn was composing his oratorio The Creation, apparently an unquestioning account of the world's origins as given in Genesis. But did Herschel's ideas influence Haydn? Biographer Richard Holmes investigates.

Haydn's Head
In 1809 one of the great musical minds in history died amidst the distant sounds of war in Austria, a man whose reputation in his time was proclaimed as genius, and whose legacy continued through many of his notable students, including Beethoven. Among his friends were counted esteemed members of society. He was a close friend of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and the philosopher Nietzsche once proclaimed that Haydn "went as far as the limits that morality sets to the intellect". In life he experienced all the trappings of a great composer, but in death he was the unfortunate victim of misguided zealots. Professor Robert Winston looks at the events leading up to the night when two men disturbed the mortal remains of Joseph Haydn, uncovering their motives and their search to discover the secret of Haydn's genius through phrenology – the study of the cranium as a means of understanding mental ability.

The Choir, Haydn Edition, 7 June 2009, 6.30-8.00pm
For almost the whole of his career Haydn was public property, having to meet the deadlines for more commissions than he could manage. But there was one occasion when he wrote genuinely for pleasure. Aled Jones explores the result, a set of part songs inspired by the composer's visit to one of England's burgeoning singing societies, the so-called glee clubs. On the way he discovers a masculine world of convoluted etiquette, heavy drinking and pseudo-parliamentary democracy.

Running order
Qual dubbio ormai (Cantata for Prince Esterház): Scenda Propizio
Part Songs (selection tba, from Haydn AND contemporaries)
Haydn arr: William Gardiner: Give to God our Thankful Songs
Haydn: Long Life shall Israel's king behold
Responsoria de Venerabili HOB CCIIIc:4a-d
Mass in G Hob XXII:6 Sancti Nicolai

Haydn Masses on The Choir, 13 & 27 September, 11 & 25 October, 6.30pm
After its exploration of the part-songs (the only music Haydn wrote entirely for himself), The Choir returns to Haydn in the Autumn when Aled Jones will be presenting a major season focussing on his masses. Haydn's first and last major compositions were masses, although we get the impression he did not have the opportunity to write as many as he would have liked. When he was given the opportunity he produced some of his finest and most enduring creations including the six late masses for Prince Esterhazy, which are among the pinnacles of sacred music from the classical era: works like the Mass In A Time Of War, with its ominous distant drum-rolls and fanfares, and his well-loved Nelson Mass which takes performers and listeners on a dramatic journey worthy of the finest opera. Each of these settings matches the formal requirements of the text with a seemingly inexhaustible, imaginative approach which makes each work an individual and inspired expression of Haydn's enduring faith. Aled Jones will be featuring a selection of Haydn's 14 complete settings of the mass in four programmes, every fortnight in September and October 2009.

CD Review, 6 June 2009
Building a Library
Jonathan Swain recommends a recording of Haydn's Symphony no. 94 in G, Surprise. With nearly 40 recordings in the current CD catalogue, Jonathan Swain will have to chose between vintage recordings dating back to the Twenties and those of our own time, many of which are influenced by the instruments and playing styles of Haydn's own time.
Haydn wrote the symphony in 1791 for a concert series he gave during the first of his two visits to England (1791–2). The premiere took place at the Hanover Square Rooms in London in March 1792 and was an overnight sensation. The Surprise Symphony includes probably the most famous musical joke of all: a sudden loud drum stroke at the end of an otherwise soft opening theme in the second movement. In his old age Haydn remarked that "the enthusiasm reached its highest peak at the Andante with the Drum Stroke. Encore! Encore! sounded in every throat".

Music Matters, 6 June 2009, 12.15pm
In this special edition of Music Matters, Tom Service examines our attitudes to Haydn and goes in search of the music behind the man. Contributors include Sir Colin Davis and Alfred Brendel.

Composer Of The Week, 1-5 June 2009
In Composer Of The Week this week, Donald Macleod blows a few layers of dust from some relatively-neglected works of Joseph Haydn. For much of his working life, Haydn lived and breathed opera – indeed, some of his best music was written for the stage. But, until recently, his operas have suffered from chronic under-exposure. Donald discovers works written for the theatres of Esterhaza and tells tales of Haydn's many years there and his relationships with musicians, employers and visiting dignitaries. And then, as Haydn's career shifted from the isolation of the Esterhazy Palace to the glamour of London, we hear Armida, which was enthusiastically received, and the opera which Haydn wrote for the King's Theatre, Haymarket – Orfeo ed Euridice.

Radio 3 Requests, 14 June 2009
Chi-chi Nwanoku presents a special, all-Haydn edition of Radio 3 Requests. Radio 3 listeners, perhaps inspired by Radio 3's own Haydn celebrations, choose their favourites; music from all corners of a huge and varied repertoire. Expect glorious moments from symphonies, string quartets and masses, as well as less well-known gems from the operatic and vocal music.

Online
Go to the Radio 3 Composers Of The Year site, bbc.co.uk/composers, to find out more about Haydn and the broadcasts on Radio 3 throughout 2009.
There is a Haydn blog from Denis McCaldin to which you can contribute, an introduction to Haydn from Charles Hazelwood, a Haydn picture gallery, you can sign up to the Haydn fan club and download some of the Haydn programmes. The site also carries a current list of Haydn broadcasts across Radio 3.

Radio 3 Publicity