We are celebrating spring with spring!
The weather has already felt like it for the better part of the month, but as of Thursday, the calendar says it too: it is spring! So why shouldn’t we celebrate it here at Sanssouci?
The main theme of this episode is Spring from Joseph Haydn’s Die Jahreszeiten, a profane oratorio he wrote between 1799 and 1801. This makes it one of his last compositions. Haydn was in his late sixties by then and his strengths failed him. Besides, he had much to say about the libretto, which he found particularly unpoetic. Many people agree with him. The lyrics by a well-off townsman about the simple and unspoilt life in the country have an intensely corny feel about them.
Fortunately, Haydn went out of his way to extract the most beautiful music from these lyrics. He provides variation where the lyrics offer more of the same, and rhythm where verses bog down. The first part immediately starts with a gloomy opening – nobody suspects a bucolic spectacle is coming! But in the end, joy and anticipation do dominate the part. “Komm, holder Lenz” remains a firm favourite at all the oratorio societies.
Next we will play a string quartet by Leopold Koželuch, a Bohemian composer and music publisher who was a contemporary of Mozart and Haydn in Vienna. He composed music in all possible genres, but is mostly remembered for his instrumental music. His String quartet no. 3 in F major bears no programmatic title. Nothing to do with spring, you could say. But the fresh, innocent music and the key of F major were widely associated with spring by people from the eighteenth century. More excuses to play this music are unnecessary.
To conclude, you will hear two songs by Joseph Haydn. To stay in spring spirit, these are carefree love songs…
Playlist
1. Joseph Haydn – Die Jahreszeiten: Spring
2. Leopold Koželuh – String quartet no. 3 in F major
3. Joseph Haydn – Cupido
4. Joseph Haydn – Die zu späte Ankunft der Mutter
