12. Main Evening Concert
It is rare that a concert programme comes together featuring works by three of the four greatest First Viennese Masters, outside a Festival it would never happen. Haydn wrote so many quartets that it is hard to keep track of them. They almost all came in sets of six; the Op.33 set is famous for being the trigger that inspired Mozart to write his famous set that he then dedicated to Haydn. When Mozart first heard these quartets he instantly realised that Haydn had created a new popular style that at the same time demonstrated his absolute mastery of the new artform. The sixth in the set opens with music that radiates a sense of happiness and well-being. Mozart’s C major opens in darkness but also proceeds to become one of his most light-filled and joyous works. Schubert’s Death and the Maiden is a work that has grown to legendary proportions inspired by the tale of the desperate father galloping through the night to save his daughter from cold embrace of Death. Schubert takes the melodramatic, Romantic songs he set to music in a carefree youth and transforms them into the terrifying future that he knew awaited him.
