Composer: born March 31, 1732, Rohrau, Austria; died May 31, 1809, Vienna

Work composed: 1792

 World premiere: Johann Peter Salomon led the Royal Philharmonic Society orchestra and also performed the solo violin part on March 9, 1792, in London

Instrumentation: solo oboe, solo bassoon, solo violin, solo cello; flute, 2 oboes, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, timpani, and strings

Estimated duration: 22 minutes

In 1761, Joseph Haydn began his 29-year tenure as Prince Esterházy’s court composer at the Prince’s palace outside Vienna, and at Esterház, the Prince’s country estate in Hungary. Always the loyal servant, Haydn had sworn to remain with his lord until one of them died, regardless of what fame and fortune he might receive elsewhere. By the 1780s, however, Haydn began to chafe under his master’s generous but narrow patronage. Haydn’s published music was well known throughout Europe, but he himself was not free to travel, even to nearby Vienna. In 1789 he wrote to a friend there, “Well, here I sit in my wilderness – forsaken – like a poor waif – almost without any human society …” 

When Nikolaus Esterházy died in 1790, Haydn, having fulfilled the terms of his service, was free to travel abroad. Soon after Haydn left Esterház, Johann Peter Salomon, a German-born violinist and impresario living in England, invited Haydn to London. Haydn accepted immediately; not long after he landed in London, he wrote his Viennese friend, “My arrival caused a great sensation throughout the whole city and I went the rounds of all the newspapers for three successive days. Everyone wants to know me.” Haydn worked in London for several years, composed some of his best music, including the “London” Symphonies for Salomon’s orchestra, and thoroughly enjoyed both his fame and his appreciative English audiences.

One of Haydn’s former students, composer Ignaz Pleyel, had also recently set up shop in London with a rival ensemble. The two men respected each other’s music and were on friendly terms, but they were also competitors, and the English press played up their rivalry. “Now a bloody harmonious war will commence between master and pupil,” wrote Haydn in a letter. “The newspapers are all full of it, but it seems to me that there will soon be an armistice, because my reputation is so firmly established. Pleyel behaved so modestly towards me on his arrival that he won my affection again.” 

Pleyel had built a reputation for his sinfonia concertantes – concertos for orchestra with multiple soloists – which were popular with audiences. Determined to outshine his former pupil, Haydn composed on of his own, for solo violin, solo oboe, solo bassoon, and solo cello with orchestra. The morning after its premiere, the London Morning Herald gave it a rave review: “A new concertante from Haydn combined with all the excellencies of music: it was profound, airy, affecting and original, and the performance was in unison with the merit of the composition.” 

© Elizabeth Schwartz