Another of my early introductions to classical music was the Second Movement from Joseph Haydn's Symphony No. 94, a/k/a the "Surprise". The master sure knew how to wake up an audience!
Bonus video! Not Benny Goodman's clarinet; here's what the instrument looked and sounded like back in Mozart's day.
8 comments:
I read something, ages ago, that a lot of Mozart's works required modified instruments to overcome the limitations of standard types of his day, the piano being a prime example. In his day, the pianoforte was quite small and delicate, not a whole lot different in size from a harpsichord. A generation later, Beethoven became famous for playing Mozart concertos on a much more modern instrument, and probably closer the sound Mozart envisioned.
That's interesting; it would be fascinating to track the evolution of musical instruments as composers began dreaming up ever more complex music.
I suppose this is a well-known story, but I'll repeat it in case there are some who haven't heard it. Mozart and Haydn were friends, and at a gathering of some kind, Mozart wagered a case of champagne that he could compose a piece of music that Haydn couldn't play on the piano (or perhaps the pianoforte). Hadyn accepted the challenge and after a few minutes Mozart produced the sheet music of his composition. Haydn - not only a composer, but also a fine musician on the keyboard - began to play, and after a few bars came to a part where both hands were extended as far as they could go in opposite directions; however, there was a note in the middle of the keyboard that could not be reached with the hands being so far apart. Haydn pronounced the piece impossible, but Mozart quickly showed how it was done. When he came to the "impossible" part, he simply leaned over and hit the key in the middle with his nose.
Haydn was also one of young Ludwig van Beethoven's teachers, but by then he was quite elderly and not much interested in new musical forms (although he had created what we know now as the standard concerto form). For his part, Beethoven said that he learned nothing from the old man.
BTW, that Mozart story is one I think I heard in high school musical history. It is classic Mozart. My mother, the cellist, also could play piano passably, and she was convinced that Beethoven (yeah, him again) was not especially fond of women musicians, because some of his sonatas can only be played comfortably by men with large hands and long fingers.
I collected all 104(!) of Haydn's symphonies on used lps 30 years ago (when people were selling their lps and replacing with cds so lps were cheap). I never tire of them, they're magical. Now I have a wall of my garage with lps, and my record player broke over 10 yrs ago. I should call the charity shop to collect them as everything is on the 'net.
Paco, try listening to the start of Haydn's 'Creation', it's up there with Handel's Messiah in my book, and a real audience wake up:
https://youtu.be/IXijFfheCbg
That's a toned-down English language version but if you want to raise the roof you can't beat Lennie Bernstein:
https://youtu.be/lvpw_fTNHXY
Vinyl is returning as "retro", bruce. You can buy turntables with a USB connection these days. So hang onto your collection!
Thanks, Bruce, I'll give it a listen.
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