
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’
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.
THE HANOVER BAND
Geof Coates oboe
Leon Bosch director
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.