HAYDN'S PASSION
Joyous. Spirited. Thrilling.
1 - 3 December 2024
AHE 2024
“ ...the Australian Haydn Ensemble...is not to be missed” New York Concert Review Inc, New York, Carnegie Hall, 2023
THE MOZART ALBUM
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LOVE & DEVOTION
String Quartets by Haydn, Mozart & Mendelssohn FEBRUARY
HEAVENLY SOPRANOS
Jewels of the Baroque with Celeste Lazarenko & Helen Sherman
APRIL
BEETHOVEN’S FIFTH
Masterworks in chamber form
JUNE
PENRITH YOUTH ORCHESTRA
JUNE
MOZART'S HORN with Carla Blackwood
SEPTEMBER
AHE 2025 SUBSCRIPTIONS OPEN NOVEMBER
HAYDN'S PASSION
Sturm und Drang meets unbridled joy DECEMBER
PROGRAM DETAILS
PERFORMANCES
SYDNEY
Sunday 1 December, 4PM
City Recital Hall
AUSTRALIAN DIGITAL CONCERT HALL
Sunday 1 December, 4PM
CANBERRA
Monday 2 December, 7 PM
Gandel Hall, National Gallery of Australia
ARTISTS
Skye McIntosh, Artistic Director and violin
THE AUSTRALIAN HAYDN ENSEMBLE
SOUTHERN HIGHLANDS
Tuesday 3 December, 7PM
Bowral Memorial Hall
PROGRAM
HAYDN
Symphony No. 49 in F minor ‘La Passione’
MOZART
Violin Concerto No. 3 in G major
C.P.E. BACH
Symphony in E minor
MOZART
Symphony No. 29 in A major
The concert duration is approximately 2 hrs 20 mins including interval
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ARTISTIC DIRECTOR’S MESSAGE
I have always been fascinated by the contrasts of light and dark in Haydn's music, and this program reflects the intense emotional landscape of the late 18th century—a time when composers like Haydn and Mozart were pushing boundaries and exploring extremes. Each piece on this program offers a distinct emotional lens. Haydn's Symphony No. 49, La Passione, captures a profound sense of passion; it's brooding, deeply introspective, and incredibly beautiful. It resonates with our times today, as people navigate complex emotions and seek balance.
In contrast, Mozart's Violin Concerto in G major brings a lighter, more playful elegance.
We then shift to C.P.E. Bach's Symphony in E minor, with its stormy, intense energy, before concluding with Mozart’s Symphony No. 29, which feels like a refreshing breath after the emotional depth of Haydn.
Together, these works create a dynamic arc that speaks to the whole spectrum of human experience, from darkness and intensity to lightness and resolution.
My hope is that you will come away feeling a sense of catharsis and connection, leaving the concert with a fresh appreciation for the depth and range of emotion that music can express, and perhaps a sense of peace or perspective.
Ultimately, I trust this is an experience that stays with you long after the final note, and that you enjoy the concert as much as we have enjoyed playing it for you.
Skye McIntosh Artistic Director Australian Haydn Ensemble
THE ENSEMBLE
The Australian Haydn Ensemble, (AHE) was founded in 2012 by Artistic Director and Principal Violinist Skye McIntosh and is now in its twelfth year.
AHE has quickly established itself as one of Australia’s leading periodinstrument groups, specialising in the repertoire of the late Baroque and early Classical eras. It takes its name from the great Joseph Haydn, a leading composer of the late 18th century.
AHE’s flexibility and inventiveness are inspired by Haydn’s fabled originality and the virtuosic musicians he worked with at the court of Esterházy for almost 30 years. It performs in a variety of sizes and combinations, ranging from quartet, quintet or septet, to chamber orchestra with special guest soloists to a full orchestra with choir.
The Ensemble has developed a flourishing regular series at the City Recital Hall, the Sydney Opera House Utzon Room and in Canberra, where it was Ensemble in Residence at the Australian National University in
2014. AHE also performs throughout regional NSW and presents education workshops to students of all ages, focusing on imparting 18th-century historical performance techniques.
AHE is particularly interested in presenting unusual programs of 18thcentury chamber versions of works by Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven, as well as presenting the music of lesser-known composers, such as Abel, Albrechtsberger, C.P.E. Bach, J.C. Bach, David, Graun, Hoffmeister and Vanhal.
To commemorate its 10th anniversary, the Ensemble recorded its third CD of music by Mozart, recently released. In October 2023 AHE undertook its first international tour of the United States, including performances at Carnegie Hall and at the opening of the new Australian Embassy in Washington DC, garnering full houses, standing ovations and glowing reviews.
THE PERFORMERS
SKYE MCINTOSH
SKYE MCINTOSH IS THE FOUNDER AND ARTISTIC DIRECTOR OF THE AUSTRALIAN HAYDN ENSEMBLE, NOW IN ITS TWELFTH YEAR.
This audacious undertaking is a testament to Skye’s musicianship and entrepreneurial spirit.
AHE, known for its innovative and ambitious programming, was delighted to perform at the Adelaide Festival in 2022 and Canberra International Music Festival in 2022 and 2023, as well as continuing to tour to Canberra and across regional New South Wales each year.
Skye attended the Royal Academy of Music in London, the Queensland Conservatorium and the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, has made numerous concert appearances as soloist and director, and led the AHE on its first tour to the US in 2023, including a performance at Carnegie Hall. She has also toured nationally with the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra, as well as performing with the Orchestra of the Antipodes (Pinchgut) and the Australian Romantic & Classical Orchestra.
ABC Classics released AHE’s third CD in 2024, featuring Skye performing Mozart’s Violin Concerto in G major, which you will hear in this concert.
Skye is playing a violin by Tomaso Eberle, 1770, Naples
VIOLIN
VIOLIN 1
Skye McIntosh*
Tomaso Eberle, 1770, Naples
Alice Evans
Sebastian Klotz, c.1750, Mittenwald
Annie Gard
Klotz, c.1710, Mittenwald
Alice Rickards
Allessandro Mezadri, 1720, Ferrara
Anna McMichael1 Camilli Camillus, 1742, Mantua
VIOLIN 2
Matthew Greco*
David Christian Hopf, 1760, Quittenbach
Ella Bennetts
André Mehler, 2014, Leipzig, after S. Serafino,1735, Venice
Bianca Porcheddu
Paul Collins, 2001, Maldon, after Bartolomeo Giuseppe del Gesù Guarneri, c.1742, Cremona
Sarah Papadopoulos Unknown, c.1790, France
VIOLA
Karina Schmitz*
Francis Beaulieu, 2011, Montreal after Pietro
Giovanni Mantegazza, 1793, Milan
John Ma
Simon Brown, 2000, Sydney
CELLO
Daniel Yeadon*2
William Forster II, 1781, London
Anton Baba
Peter Elias, 2000, Aigle, after Stradivarius, Italy
DOUBLE BASS
Pippa Macmillan
Unknown, mid-18th century, Italy
OBOE
Joel Raymond*
Joel Raymond, London, 2010 after Grundmann & Floth, c.1790, Dresden
Kailen Cresp
Wolfgang Kube, Berlin, 2019, after Grumman & Floth, 1795, Dresden
FLUTE
Mikaela Oberg*
R. Tutz, 2007, Innsbruck, after H. Grenser, c.1810, Dresden
Jessica Lee
M. Wenner, 2012, Singen, after A. Grenser, c.1790, Dresden
BASSOON
Luis Tasso
Athayde Santos Robert Cronin, Menlo Park, before 2000, after Grenser, c.1800, Dresden
HORN
Michael Dixon*
Richard Seraphinoff, Bloomington, 2007, after Antoine Halari, 1810, Paris
Dorée Dixon
Richard Seraphinoff, Bloomington, 2009, after Antoine Halari, 1810, Paris 1Dr Anna McMichael appears courtesy of the Sir Zelman Cowen School of Music and Performance, Monash University.
ABOUT THE MUSIC
FRANZ JOSEPH HAYDN (1732-1809)
Symphony No. 49 in F minor
La Passione
Adagio
Allegro di molto
Menuet e Trio
Presto
Sturm und Drang was the name of a 1776 play by the German dramatist Maximilian von Klinger. But it’s come to serve as a shorthand for an artistic mood that swept across the Germanspeaking world in the 1770s; a mood of dark, often violent emotion. It’s often applied to the symphonies that Haydn wrote at the first peak of his creative maturity, and when you listen to music as turbulent as this extraordinary symphony, it’s easy to hear why.
There’s only one problem. As far as we know, the symphony was written in 1768 at the great palace of Eszterháza, where Haydn was Kapellmeister to the powerful Hungarian nobleman Prince Nicolaus Esterházy. Built on reclaimed swampland near Lake Neusiedl, Eszterháza might as well have been on an island. “I was cut off from the world” said Haydn, years later. “There was no-one to confuse or torment me, and I was forced to become original”. So, any Stürm or Drang in his music came from his own creative imagination.
And what an imagination! The symphony is in the key of F minor – a key that Haydn seems to have associated with a particularly fierce and
bitter melancholy - and in a reversal of his normal practice, he places the slow movement first. The first music we hear is the sombre processional tread of the opening Adagio: a powerful way to establish an atmosphere (Mozart showed he’d learned the lesson at the start of his Requiem, 23 years later in 1791). The Allegro di molto that follows is restless and angular: Haydn’s modest wind section of two oboes, two horns and a bassoon add to its bite.
The minuet – usually a graceful dance – is stately and stern, yielding to a brighter central Trio section with a horn calling over sweet oboes. And like a lightning conductor, the finale gathers up, and then discharges, the symphony’s tension: a torrential musical downpour that sweeps with unrelenting drive from first bar to last.
So why is it called La Passione? The nickname seems to date from the 1780s or 1790s – perhaps because Haydn was known to have had the symphony played on Good Friday at Eszterháza, or perhaps because its mood made it seem particularly suitable for that purpose. But there’s a twist. One early source suggests that it was assembled from music intended for a play called “The Good-Humoured Quaker”: not so much an expression of religious emotions, but a remarkably accurate parody of them. We’re unlikely ever to know for sure. Haydn, whose own religious faith was as generous as it was sincere, would probably have smiled, and urged us simply to listen.
(1756-1791)
Violin Concerto No. 3 in G major K. 216
Allegro Adagio
Rondo: Allegro
Even more than composition, violinplaying was the Mozart family business. In the year of Wolfgang's birth, his father Leopold had published his Elementary Violin-School - the definitive 18th-century violin textbook. So, there was never any chance that young Wolfgang would avoid the violin, and in November 1770, two months before his 15th birthday, he was appointed leader of the Salzburg Court Orchestra. Wolfgang’s creative genius, meanwhile, was so fertile that it seemed to grow from one work to the next. In Salzburg on 12th June 1775 he completed his Second Violin Concerto – a concise, polished work in a fashionable style, probably meant for Antonio Brunetti, the gifted but louche senior violinist of the Salzburg orchestra. On 12th September he signed off his Third.
He already knew exactly how to get the best out of string instruments, and his own playing was a source of genuine pride to him. In 1777 he wrote to his father from Augsburg that he'd played his “Strassburger Concerto” (probably this one) and “it went like oil. Everyone praised my beautiful pure tone"… it went like oil” - Mozart had called a favourite childhood fiddle his "butter violin", because of its soft, mellow sound. These were the qualities he prized in violin playing, and they're exactly the qualities his Violin Concerto No. 3 is designed to display The first movement has the bustle and grandeur of a big showpiece concerto, but reduced to a deliciously intimate scale. The oboes do duly as trumpets.
The orchestral violins use mutes in the Adagio so the soloist is free to sing, sweetly and expansively, over the gentlest
of accompaniments. And just as the finale seems settled into its buoyant, swinging dance-rhythm, Mozart deals us something completely unexpected - a poised, bittersweet Hungarian folksong in a completely different mood and tempo. (This was a melody known as “The Strassburger”; it’ll be familiar to anyone who's seen the film Master and Commander). Why? Why not? Mozart simply carries on as if nothing ever happened. Oboes and horns finish the concerto with a final, witty aside.
C.P.E. BACH (1714-1788)
Symphony in E minor Wq. 178
Allegro di molto Andante Prestissimo
“A musician cannot move others unless he too is moved. He must feel all the emotions tha the hopes to arouse in his audience, for the revealing of his own humour will stimulate a like mood in the listener”. This famous quote from C.P.E. Bach reveals an artist in pursuit of deep emotional connection with his listeners, striving for a style of composition fit for the Enlightenment, that engaged not only with the whims and fancies of the ruling monarch but also with the philosophers, painters and poets who were beginning to define social and cultural discourse from a more secular standpoint.
This symphony is one of the great calling cards of Sturm und Drang style. It was composed in the same year as the outbreak of the world's first 'global' conflict, the Seven Years war, after a shifting of allegiances among the great empires. The great music historian Charles Burney recounted that Johann Hasse, one of the most popular composers of his day, described this symphony as "the best he had ever heard". It is unclear whether he heard
the original version, Wq.177, for strings only, or this slightly later arrangement with wind instruments that increases the complexity and wildness of the timbres. Regardless, the work is a magnificent example of C.P.E. Bach's inventive spirit. Wq.177 was in fact the only symphony by C.P.E. Bach composed during his 30 years in Berlin to be published in his lifetime (in Nuremberg, 1756). He wrote nineteen symphonies in all, nine of which were composed at the court of Frederick the Great in Berlin and the remaining ten after his arrival in Hamburg, where he took over as Music Director from his godfather Telemann
In three parts and only around 11 minutes in length, this work bears more resemblance to the historical form of a sinfonia than a modern symphony. What is a sinfonia you ask? During the 17 th century the Italian word was used interchangeably with canzona (song) and sonata (to sound), but generally implied an instrumental piece linking or introducing sections of other works, such as a scene change in an opera. Their purpose was often to generate tension and excitement and encourage a general hush amongst at times unruly audiences. This was achieved, even prior to the beginning of the Sturm und Drang period, using dramatic contrast and rhythmic effects very much favoured by the eccentric C.P.E
WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART (1756-1791)
Symphony No. 29 in A major K. 201
Allegro moderato
Andante
Menuetto
Allegro con spirito
The German poet Christian Friedrich Schubart visited Salzburg between 1772 and 1777 and reported that “the musical establishment is one of the best-manned
in all the German-speaking lands… their kapellmeister Mozart (the father) has placed it on an excellent footing”. He made two other particularly telling observations:
The Salzburgers are especially distinguished in wind instruments. One finds there the most admirable horn and trumpet players…Their folk songs are so comical and burlesque that one cannot listen to them without sidesplitting laughter. The Punch-and-Judy spirit shines through everywhere, and the melodies are mostly excellent and inimitably beautiful.
And it’s all there to be heard in Mozart’s Symphony No. 29 in A major, completed on 6th April 1774: the work of an 18-year-old junior konzertmeister at the provincial court of Salzburg. There’s the bass-rich string section, and that virtuoso horn-playing – Mozart must have been very confident of his performers to write for horns in the key of A, with their dazzling high register. Savour the contrast between the symphony’s dusky, expressive opening bars, and the sunlit blaze of orchestral sound that follows. And could any melody be more “excellent and inimitably beautiful” than the romance-like muted D major Andante, with its warm woodwind shading? Mozart follows it with a minuet whose springy rhythms show that even at the age of 18 he knew the difference between a movement meant for dancing and one intended for a symphony. As for the “Punch and Judy spirit”: there’s something unmistakably carnivalesque about the buccaneering hunting-horn finale. Mozart’s eventual frustration with small-town Salzburg is well documented, but in 1774 it was still far from boiling point. If the Symphony No. 29 shows him making full, masterly use of local materials, it also points to altogether more theatrical musical destiny.
Richard Bratby
YOUR SUPPORT IS VITAL
Since the very beginning AHE has been strongly committed to bringing beautiful music to the regions of New South Wales and beyond. And we can’t do it the way we do it without you! Your support is vital and all gifts are very much appreciated.
You can even make a recurring gift over 12 months, and any amount over $2 is tax deductible.
Thank you
Skye
McIntosh Artistic Director
WAYS TO DONATE
Online: by using this QR code or going to australianhaydn.com.au/donate
Call us on 1800 334 388 to donate over the phone
“Great music, performed magnificently.”
Southern Highlands, 2024
"... deep understanding of the works and perfect blending as an ensemble."
Canberra, ACT, 2024
“Creative, inviting, challenging-and always welcoming to audiences.”
Berry NSW, 2024
WHAT OUR AUDIENCES SAY ABOUT AHE
“Certainly don’t regret subscribing as I have the excitement of seeing future concert treats there, in my diary!”
Subscriber, Southern Highlands, 2024
“Loved all the choices made.”
Sydney, NSW, 2024
“Superb playing. The joy on the players faces.”
Canberra, ACT, 2024
“Five big, glowing stars. Loved this concert. …The Beethoven was just superlative; blew me away. It was the best concert I’ve been to this year, including several in Europe.”
Sydney, NSW, 2024
“Five stars, a riveting, masterful performance
Southern Highlands, 2024
OUR PATRONS
Our patrons enable us to continue presenting wonderful concerts. We are so grateful to everyone who supports us and cannot thank you enough. Patron categories are named after famous 18th-century patrons who supported and commissioned many of Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven’s works that we know and love today. Where would we be without them?
ABOUT OUR PATRON CATEGORIES
Marie Theresa The Queen was a patron of Viennese music, and Haydn wrote his Te Deum at her request.
Esterházy Prince Esterházy was the main patron of Haydn.
Waldstein Count Waldstein was an early patron of Beethoven.
Van Swieten He was a keen amateur musician and patron of Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven.
Galitzin He was an amateur musician and is known particularly for commissioning three Beethoven string quartets Op. 127, 130 and 132.
Lobkowitz He was a Bohemian aristocrat and a patron of Beethoven.
Razumovsky He commissioned Beethoven’s Op. 59 String Quartets.
PATRON
Professor the Honourable Dame Marie Bashir AD CVO
FOUNDING PATRON
The late Dr Timothy Pascoe AM
THE CHAIR’S CIRCLE
The Chair's Circle is a group of dedicated supporters who have made a multi-year commitment to supporting the long-term vision of the Australian Haydn Ensemble
Marco Belgiorno-Zegna AM & Angela Belgiorno-Zegna
Sherry & the late Tom Gregory
Karin Keighley
Peter & Lisa Macqueen
Kevin McCann AO & Deidre McCann
Ian & Pam McGaw
The late Dr Timothy Pascoe AM & the late Eva Pascoe
Anthony Strachan
Peter Young AM & Susan Young
Anonymous (1)
ARTISTIC DIRECTOR’S CIRCLE
The Artistic Director’s Circle is a group of passionate supporters who have made a commitment to supporting the AHE education program and the vision of the Artistic Director
Jan Bowen AM FRSN
Carolyn Fletcher AM
Adrian Maroya
Jon & Susanne North
OUR PATRONS
MARIA THERESA $25,000
Marco Belgiorno-Zegna AM & Angela
Belgiorno-Zegna
David & Anne Eustace Foundation
Sherry & the late Tom Gregory
Howarth Foundation
Karin Keighley
Peter & Lisa Macqueen
Anonymous (1)
ESTERHÁZY $15,000 – $24,999
Ian & Pam McGaw
Philanthropy Initiative Australia, a giving fund of the APS Foundation
Anthony Strachan
WALDSTEIN $10,000 – $14,999
Jan Bowen AM FRSN
Carolyn Fletcher AM
Kevin McCann AO & Deidre McCann
Jon & Susanne North
Kim Williams
Peter Young AM & Susan Young
VAN SWIETEN $5,000 – $9,999
Martin & Ursula Armstrong
Dr Terry & Julie Clarke
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In Memory of Tom Gregory & Timothy Pascoe
Anonymous (1)
GALITZIN $1,000 – $4,999
Priscilla Adey
Antoinette Albert
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Clive Birch
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Dr Andrew Byrne & Andrew Gill
Dr Michael & Dr Colleen Chesterman
George H. Clark
Robert & Carmel Clark
Jean Cockayne
Dr Nola Cooke
Dr Peter Craswell
Peter & Prudence Davenport
Rob Diamond
Alison Dunn
Jeremy Eccles FRSN & Kate Eccles OAM
David, Katrina & Madeline Evans
Terry Fahy
John Fairfax AO & Libby Fairfax
Richard Fisher AM & Diana Fisher
Dr Marguerite Foxon
The Hon. Ben Franklin MLC
Bunny Gardiner-Hill
Prof Pru Goward AO
Sharon Green
The Hon Don Harwin
The late Elizabeth Howard
Michael & Anna Joel
Sarah de Jong
Lucy Kalangi
David Kent OAM & Angela Kent
Celia Lillywhite
Diccon & Liz Loxton
David Maloney AM & Erin Flaherty
Rod & Diane McAllery
Paula McLean
Trevor Parkin
The late Dr Timothy Pascoe AM & the late Eva Pascoe
Nick Payne
Susan Perrin-Kirby
David & Elizabeth Platt
Keith & Robyn Power
Michael & Anna Rennie
Deidre Rickards
Greg & Wendy See
Danielle Smith
The Smithers Family
Augusta Supple
Kay Vernon
The Hon. Anthony Whealy K.C. & Annie Whealy
Lady Meriel Wilmot-Wright
Anonymous (10)
LOBKOWITZ $500 – $999
Jock Baird
Lloyd Capps & Mary Jo Capps AM
Wendy Cobcroft
Richard & Cynthia Coleman
Matt Costello & Bernie Heard
Todd Denney & Jacqui Smith
Sandra Duggan
Dr Terence & Deborah Dwyer
Dr Meredith Edwards
Jean Gifford
Stephen & Jill Goggs
Dave Jordan & Louise Walsh
Gerard Joseph
Dr Jacqueline Milne
Beverley Northey
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Penelope Seidler AM
Roger & Ann Smith
David & Jill Townsend
Ailsa Veiszadeh
Dr Margot Woods
Anonymous (4)
RAZUMOVSKY $250 - $499
Ann Armstrong
James Ashburner
Tony Barnett
Walter Bilas & Phillip Sadler
Jeffrey Bridger
Christine Cooper
Dr John Dearn
Giles & Heather Edmonds
Michael Fong
Kate Guilfoyle
Dr Judith Healy
Ann Hoban
Patrick McIntyre & Yianni Faros
Dr Paul & Betty Meyer
Jeremy Morris
Henry O'Connor
Dr Richard Sippe
Dr Ann Young
Anonymous (7)
This listing is correct as of 13 Nov 2024, and we gratefully recognise all donations received since 1 July 2023
GOVERNMENT PARTNER
Livestream Partner
David & Anne Eustace Foundation.
Howarth Foundation
Jibb foundation
Sir Asher & Lady Joel Foundation
Key Foundation
Philanthropy Initiative Australia, a giving fund of the APS Foundation
Sinsay Pty Ltd
Stoneglen Foundation
Australian Haydn Ensemble is a not for profit organisation.
ABN 26 202 621 166 PO Box 400 Strawberry Hills NSW 2012 1800 334 388 (Freecall) | australianhaydn.com.au
BACKSTAGE
BOARD
Marco Belgiorno-Zegna AM (Chair)
Jan Bowen AM FRSN
Carolyn Fletcher AM (Deputy Chair)
Adrian Maroya
Kevin McCann AO
Skye McIntosh (Artistic Director)
Jon North
Vivienne Skinner
Peter Young AM
The Australian Haydn Ensemble acknowledges the traditional custodians of the lands on which we live, rehearse and perform. We pay our respects to Elders past and present.
TEAM
Skye McIntosh Artistic Director
Alison Dunn
Market Development
Ailsa Veiszadeh Administrator
Breanne Hickey Tour Manager
Stephen Bydder Ticketing
Marguerite Foxon Front of House and Administration*
Lorrae Collins Accountant
Richard Bratby Program Notes
*In Kind Support
IN KIND
John Dearn, Canberra
Jean Gifford, Canberra
Alison Dunn, Sydney
IMAGES
Images throughout by Helen White except page 6 (James Mills) and pages 12 - 13 (Oliver Miller).
Details in this program are correct at time of publication. The Australian Haydn Ensemble reserves the right to add, withdraw or substitute artists and to vary the program and other details without notice. Full terms and conditions of sale available at our website australianhaydn.com.au or on request.
