Concerts

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Sperger, Gluck & Haydn

Programme

SPERGER  Symphony in F ‘Arrival’
MOZART  Oboe Concerto in C K.314
GLUCK  Dance of the Blessed Spirits
HAYDN  Symphony No.45 in F-sharp minor ‘Farewell’

 

About This Concert

Haydn’s famous ‘Farewell’ symphony gets its name from the ending, when each musician stops playing to leave just two muted violins – a hint to Prince Esterházy to allow his musicians and retinue to return home to their families after a long stay at his summer palace. Haydn’s contemporary, Johannes Sperger (1750-1812), amusingly inverts the trick in his ‘Arrival’ symphony, starting with two violins and building from there.

The celebrated Hanover Band, conducted by Leon Bosch, offers the opportunity to hear both works in this special final concert of the first LCMS series at St John’s Waterloo.

They also play Gluck’s hauntingly beautiful ‘Dance of the Blessed Spirits’, and with oboist Geoff Coates, Mozart’s much-loved Oboe Concerto.

 

Artists

THE HANOVER BAND

Geof Coates oboe 
Leon Bosch director 

 

 

 

When
14 June 2026
6:00 pm

Where
St John’s Church, Waterloo Rd, London SE1 8TY, UK
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Tickets
£24-£37* (*Booking fee applies)
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Additional Info

The Hanover Band

HANOVER (Not Hannover; Germany) In terms of British history the majority of the music we play is from the Hanoverian period. Hanover also refers to Hanover Square in London, where Haydn performed his symphonies and arias in the Salomon Concerts in the 1790’s.

BAND (ref: The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians)
‘An instrumental ensemble, larger than a chamber ensemble. Thus the ’24 violins’ of Louis XIV were called ‘la grande bande’ to distinguish them from Lully’s ‘petits violons’, and Charles II’s similar ensemble was known as ‘the King’s Band’. By extension, ‘band’ came to mean an orchestra in colloquial British usage’.

THE HANOVER BAND a period name for a period orchestra.

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