Budapest

A five-year series of New Year's Day performances of The Creation, conducted by Adam Fischer, ended on 1 January 2012. The concerts took place in Budapest's lavish Bartók concert hall in the recently built Palace of the Arts. The last concert was performed by the period instrument orchestra La Scintilla from Zurich, the Dresdner Kammerchor, and a Swedish-Swiss-German trio of solo singers: Malin Hartelius (soprano), Bernard Richter (tenor) and Thomas E. Bauer (bass). In 2013 a new series will be launched: each year will begin with The Seasons.

Two years ago, when HAYDN still wasn't there to report it, the Hungarian Haydn Society erected a memorial board on the wall of the Royal Palace in Buda castle to commemorate the first performance of The Creation in Hungary which had taken place 110 years earlier, on 8 March 1800, in honor of Joseph the Palatine of Hungary and his young Russian wife. One of the addresses was given by Zoltán Kocsis, pianist and director of the National Philharmonic Orchestra.

Eszterháza

Due to the restoration works in Eszterháza Palace itself, last year's "Haydn at Eszterháza" Festival took place in late August in two nearby churches as a series of concerts with sacred music composed by Joseph and Michael Haydn, Joseph Gregor Werner, Ignaz Pleyel, Johann Georg Albrechtsberger and Johann Nepomuk Fuchs. In the Catholic Church of Fertőszentmiklós, György Vashegyi led his Orfeo Orchestra and Purcell Choir in a performance of the Cäcilienmesse, Hob. XXII:5, and the Scola Cantorum Budapestiensis, directed by Tamás Bubnó and János Mezei performed Michael Haydn's and Werner's sacred pieces.

Dolní Lukavice

One of the oldest Haydn festivals of the world, based in Haydn's first workplace outside Vienna, one-time Lukawetz in Western Bohemia, will be 20 years old this year. The festival will last from 14 to 22 September, and will extend to ten nearby localities beside Dolní Lukavice. Please visit www.haydn-festival.eu

Košice

Haydn’s compositions hold an important position in the programs of the Košice State Philharmony (Štátna filharmónia Košice), the most important symphony orchestra in Eastern Slovakia. In the current season they perform four concertos, the Heiligmesse and the oratorio version of The Seven Last Words of Our Savior on the Cross. Košice is a major city with a rich cultural life and deep historical roots. (Haydn’s mistress Luigia Polzelli died in this city, then Hungarian Kassa, in 1830). To the Haydn productions they have invited guest performers (instrumental and vocal soloists, two conductors and a choir) from Hungary and the United States.

Stockholm

One of the new productions of the forthcoming summer season of the Drottningholm Castle Theatre will be Haydn's Orlando paladino, first performed at Eszterháza in 1782. The 29 July première and the other seven performances will be conducted by the artistic director of the theatre, Mark Tatlow. Sigrid T'Hooft will be the director, and the designer will be Stephan Dietrich. The renowned Baroque opera director Sigrid T'Hooft has thoroughly studied the abundant source material providing details of the 18th-century Eszterháza costumes and requisites, such as the sketch of the opening scene backdrop shown below, with the intention of using this information for the new production.

24^th International Haydn Days
"Haydn & Italy"
6 - 16 September 2012

"Haydn & Italy" will be the topic of the 24th International Haydn Days in Eisenstadt. From 6 to 16 September 2012 classical music stars from all over the world will perform at the festival.

Italy has always been a desirable place for the great artists. Whether painter, musician or composer, they travelled south. Although Haydn never travelled to Italy, he had a strong affinity to this country. He loved the music and spoke fluent Italian.

The program of the International Haydn Days 2012 moves Eisenstadt closer to the great Italian music centres such as Venice or Naples. Artistic Director Dr. Walter Reicher has invited the most celebrated Haydn experts to Eisenstadt, including the Haydn expert Adam Fischer and his Austrian-Hungarian Haydn Orchestra, I Musici di Roma, Giovanni Antonini and Il Giardino Armonico as Orchestra in Residence, Mischa Maisky, Patricia Kopatchinskaja and the Academy of Ancient Music with Bernard Labadie, to name just a few of the illustrious artists and ensembles of international renown.

I Musici di Roma (© Corinne Veysselier)

Famous Guttenbrunn Haydn Portraits on Display

Probably for the first time in more than 200 years, and only for a few hours, both original portraits of Joseph Haydn by the Austrian painter Ludwig Guttenbrunn (1750-1819) were shown together in Eisenstadt, Austria. On 10 February 2012 those most famous depictions of the composer were presented to the press at the Haydn Centre Eisenstadt. The presentation took place on the initiative of the Haydn Festival Eisenstadt.

One of the two portraits, version A in oil on wood, has since 1975 been in the possession of the province of Burgenland. It was long considered lost, until the Haydn researcher H. C. Robins Landon rediscovered the portrait. Now this portrait is available for public viewing in the Haydn House in Eisenstadt. Version B is in a private collection in London.

oth version A and version B are neither signed nor dated. The structure of the paintings and the image contents are similar: They show Joseph Haydn composing, sitting at a piano. A few differing details distinguish version B from version A. The presentation of the two portraits was a unique opportunity to facilitate research on these portraits.

Presentation of Guttenbrunn portraits (© Haydn Festival)

Vol. 8 of the Eisenstädter Haydn-Berichte prepared for publication

Volume 8 of the Eisenstädter Haydn-Berichte, a publication of the Haydn Foundation, has been sent to the publisher. The volume, edited by Gernot Gruber, Walter Reicher and Christine Siegert, contains the proceedings of the conference Joseph Haydn im 21. Jahrhundert held in Vienna and Eisenstadt in November 2009. It includes more than twenty papers in German and English by internationally renowned scholars.

The papers focus three main subjects: The cultural background of Haydn’s life and his personality are analyzed based on his London notebooks and his letters as well as his collection of copperplate prints; his relationship to his contemporaries is studied, including his brother Michael, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and others. A second group of papers give new insight into the musical structure and other aspects of Haydn’s works: The Seasons, the late masses, the symphonies, the string quartets etc. Last but not least, the reception of Haydn’s music from the 19th century up to the present days is explored.

Voyages of Discovery

Conference of the New Zealand Musicological Society
Hosted in association with The University of Auckland School of Music,
6 Symonds Street, Auckland 1142, New Zealand, 30 November-2 December

The New Zealand Musicological Society was formed in 1981, with the aim of advancing musicological study and research in New Zealand, and encouraging and assisting cooperation between institutions interested in musicology. It holds regular conferences and symposia, which provide a forum for its members to meet, report on their research and discuss current issues. Major events in the Society's recent history have been joint conferences with the Musicological Society of Australia (MSA) in Auckland (1994), Sydney (2000), Wellington (2003), Brisbane (2007), Hamilton (2008) (including a Lilburn Symposium) and Dunedin (2010), which attracted scholars from New Zealand, Australia, Asia, China, the Pacific, the United States and Europe.

This year's conference will be held from 29 November-2 December at the University of Auckland’s School of Music. The meeting promises to result in a lively exchange of ideas. The Society has sought a broad profile and accordingly has welcomed music lovers with a wide range of backgrounds and interests. This is invariably reflected in the wide range of topics covered in NZMS conference papers. Hence it is fitting that we are hosting James Webster (Cornell University)—a specialist in Haydn and historical musicology—and Patricia Shehan Campbell (The University of Washington)—a specialist in music education—as keynote speakers.

Society members are engaged in musical research, whether historical, bibliographical, analytical or ethnomusicological. The conference seeks to investigate and promote the breaking of new ground within and between our fields of music study: musicology, ethnomusicology, popular music, jazz, music therapy and music education. "Voyages of Discovery" relates here to intellectual travel; the charting of new territory within music disciplines; and interdisciplinary journeys.

Pride of Auckland sailing. Courtesy of Tourism Auckland.

Call for Papers

Conference presentations may take one of the following forms:

• Formal conference presentations (20 minutes, plus 10 minutes for questions)
• Interactive workshops (30 minutes)
• Lecture demonstrations / lecture recitals (20 minutes, plus 10 minutes for questions)
• Panel sessions (up to three participants and 90 minutes in duration)

Abstracts of no more than 250 words should be sent as a Word attachment to NZMSConference@auckland.ac.nz

Conference website: http://www.creative.auckland.ac.nz/uoa/home/about/our-faculty/schools-programmes-and-centres/music/nz-musicological-society

Proposals for panel sessions should include abstracts for individual papers (where applicable), as well as a proposal for the session itself (up to 250 words each).

Please also include a title, and supply five keywords below your abstract. As abstracts will be screened anonymously by the selection committee, please omit your name from the Word file. In the body of your e-mail you should include your full name, your status (salaried permanent university staff member/student/private researcher/professional musician), your institutional affiliation where appropriate, and your home town/country.

Deadline for proposals: 10 June 2012

Selection Committee:
Martin Lodge (m.lodge@waikato.ac.nz), University of Waikato
Patricia Shehan Campbell (pcamp@uw.edu), University of Washington
W. Dean Sutcliffe (wd.sutcliffe@auckland.ac.nz), University of Auckland
Fiona McAlpine (fe.mcalpine@auckland.ac.nz), Secretary of the New Zealand Musicological Society
Richard Moyle (r.moyle@auckland.ac.nz), University of Auckland
Nancy November (n.november@auckland.ac.nz), University of Auckland
Inge van Rij (inge.vanRij@vuw.ac.nz), President of the New Zealand Musicological Society

City Reflections. Courtesy of Tourism Auckland

Sponsor: