ARTISTIC DIRECTOR’S MESSAGE

AHE has always been passionate about reviving the eighteenth century custom of performing large-scale symphonic works in chamber version. It has been a wonderful journey over these last few years, as we have continued to explore original arrangements of these masterworks. I find they reveal such an incredible level of detail and dynamism to audiences and players alike.

These arrangements were a large part of everyday life at the time and bringing these arrangements to the contemporary concert stage provides a fascinating and often surprising window into the music-making of the day. Many of the works we have performed in this manner in the past, have not, as far as we know, been performed since the time they were first published in the first or second decades of the nineteenth century. Our program today, Beethoven’s Seventh, presents two such chamber versions of works by Beethoven alongside a gorgeous string quintet by Boccherini.

The program opens with Beethoven’s Egmont Overture in an arrangement by Nicholas Mori and finishes with his Symphony No. 7 in an arrangement or ‘adaptation’ by Nicholas Mori.

Mori is an interesting character and this is the first time we have programmed one of his arrangements. A child prodigy and son of an Italian wigmaker, he was born in London in 1796 and first performed publicly at age seven at the King's Theatre in 1804, which was coincidentally the same year that Boccherini died.

Mori married the widow of the music publisher Lavenu, whose business he carried on at 28 New Bond Street.

The arrangement of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7 was published by Lavenu under his watch.

The creation of these particular types of chamber arrangements was quite a normal part of everyday life in Haydn and Beethoven’s time. Chamber performances of works of this size were quite popular throughout London, used for salon concert programs and also as works that could be played at home. It was also a great way for composers to sell their works to the public - much in the same way people purchase albums or download tracks on iTunes today. Also on the program is a beautiful string quintet by Boccherini in C minor, which was published in 1774. Boccherini wrote a large amount of chamber works and many string quintets. The quintet can be performed with either two violins, viola and two cellos or as we perform it today, with two violins, two violas and one cello from the Janet et Collette edition of the work. Janet et Cotelle was an interesting French publishing house that was founded in 1810; they catalogued and created early editions of over 2,500 works including many early editions of Boccherini, Beethoven and Haydn’s works.

Thank you for coming along, and I do hope you enjoy the concert.

Skye McIntosh Artistic Director Australian Haydn Ensemble