Haydn Symphony No 80

Mozart Bassoon Concerto

Elgar Serenade for Strings

Schubert Symphony No 5

Haydn’s 80th Symphony was written in 1784 when he was 52. So, unlike the other three composers in this concert, he was a mature and well established composer who was enjoying increasing popularity both in his native Austria and in the rest of Europe. Indeed his next six symphonies were the famous “Paris” symphonies, which were the result of his first major foreign commission. They were followed by visits to London and the next four “London” symphonies.

Mozart wrote the Bassoon Concerto when he was 18 years old, and it was his first concerto for wind instruments. Scholars believe that Mozart wrote perhaps three bassoon concerti but that only the first has
survived.

Although not formally published until 1892, the Serenade is believed to be a reworking of a suite that Elgar had written some years earlier, before he had firmly set his sights on a career as a composer. Certainly, it has a youthful charm while at the same time displaying signs of the skills Elgar developed later. The work remains among the most frequently performed of all his music.

Schubert’s Symphony No 5 is also the work of a young man: he was 19 when he composed it, learning from works of his recent past, particularly Mozart’s Symphony No 40 to help him fashion this, his most engaging early symphony.

Tickets £10.00 (£8.00 concessions) and £3.00 for accompanied children under 16