Synopsis
Haydn’s oratorio The Seasons had its premiere performance on this date in Vienna in 1801. Like its predecessor, The Creation, Haydn’s new oratorio was a great success, and, as before, Haydn received help with the text and a lot of advice from the versatile Gottfried Bernhard Baron van Swieten, an enthusiastic admirer of Handel oratorios and the music of J.S. Bach.
Swieten’s text for The Seasons included many opportunities for baroque-style “tone painting” — musical representations of everything from croaking frogs and workers toiling in the fields, sections that raised a lot of smiles in 1801 and still do today. Haydn, famous for his sense of humor, in this case humored the old-fashioned tastes of the Baron as well.
Speaking of the text, since Haydn was tremendous popular in England, Baron van Swieten prepared an English-language version of his text, trying to fit the English words to the rhythm of his original German. Alas, the good Baron’s command of English was, to put it diplomatically, perhaps not as firm he imagined. So these days, ensembles wishing to perform Haydn’s oratorio have a choice: they can opt for Swieten’s quaint-but-clunky English version, or his more graceful German original.
Music Played in Today's Program
Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809): Ländler, from The Seasons; Academy of St. Martin in the Fields; Neville Marriner, conductor; Philips 438715
On This Day
Deaths
1921 - Dutch composer Alfons Diepenbrock, 58, in Amsterdam
1948 - Mexican composer Manuel Ponce, 65, in Mexico City
1998 - American composer Mel Powell, 75, in Sherman Oaks, California. He won the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 1990.
Premieres
1742 - Handel: oratorio, Messiah (Julian date: April 13)
1801 - Haydn: oratorio The Seasons, in Vienna
1950 - Bernstein: incidental music Peter Pan (play by J.M. Barrie) at the Imperial Theater in New York City, conducted by Ben Steinberg
1957 - Ives: String Quartet No. 1, in New York City (completed in 1896)
1988 - Anthony Davis: Notes from the Underground (dedicated to Ralph Ellison), at Carnegie Hall in New York by the American Composers Orchestra, Paul Lustig Dunkel conducting
1990 - Bright Sheng: Four Movemenets for piano trio, at Alice Tully Hall in New York City, by The Peabody Trio
1992 - Joan Tower: Violin Concerto, with soloist Elmar Oliveira and the Utah Symphony, Joseph Silverstein conducting
1997 - Stephen Paulus: opera The Three Hermits, at House of Hope Presbyterian Church in St. Paul, Minnesota, with Thomas Lancaster conducting
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About Composers Datebook®
Host John Birge presents a daily snapshot of composers past and present, with timely information, intriguing musical events and appropriate, accessible music related to each.
He has been hosting, producing and performing classical music for more than 25 years. Since 1997, he has been hosting on Minnesota Public Radio's Classical Music Service. He played French horn for the Cincinnati Symphony and Pops Orchestra and performed with them on their centennial tour of Europe in 1995. He was trained at the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, Eastman School of Music and Interlochen Arts Academy.