Lira Organizzata
Evening Music | May 6, 2010
King Ferdinand IV of Naples and Sicily played the weird lira organizzata, and ordered Haydn to write some works for it. Haydn complied…sort of!
Haydn’s eight Notturni were composed at the behest of the King of the United Kingdoms of Naples and Sicily, Ferdinand IV. Ferdinand played the peculiar lira organizzata, a kind of hurdy-gurdy relegated mostly to the trash-heap of odd instruments. However, Haydn looked to the future and arranged the works to feature flute and oboe instead. We hear Nos. 6 and 8 this evening, played on conventional instruments (sorry!).
Samuel Barber’s Violin Concerto, as performed by violinist James Oliver Buswell IV with Marin Alsop conducting the Royal Scottish Orchestra, was a 2002 Grammy nominee. Listen, and find out why. Mozart is represented tonight by the Symphony No. 40, Beethoven by the “Choral Fantasy” in C Minor, and von Dohnanyi by his turn-of-the 20th-century Serenade for Violin, Viola, and Cello in C.
Haydn’s eight Notturni were composed at the behest of the King of the United Kingdoms of Naples and Sicily, Ferdinand IV. Ferdinand played the peculiar lira organizzata, a kind of hurdy-gurdy relegated mostly to the trash-heap of odd instruments. However, Haydn looked to the future and arranged the works to feature flute and oboe instead. We hear Nos. 6 and 8 this evening, played on conventional instruments (sorry!).
Samuel Barber’s Violin Concerto, as performed by violinist James Oliver Buswell IV with Marin Alsop conducting the Royal Scottish Orchestra, was a 2002 Grammy nominee. Listen, and find out why. Mozart is represented tonight by the Symphony No. 40, Beethoven by the “Choral Fantasy” in C Minor, and von Dohnanyi by his turn-of-the 20th-century Serenade for Violin, Viola, and Cello in C.
