Happy birthday, Papa Haydn. Father of the Classical Symphony. Father of the String Quartet. You set the standards against which all subsequent composers have had to measure.
Two years ago, our colleagues across the pond, Classic FM, commissioned one of its hapless employees to rank Haydn’s 104 numbered symphonies. Of course, this involved actually having to listen to them. Here are the assessments of his overworked ears:
http://www.classicfm.com/composers/haydn/guides/definitive-ranking-haydn-symphonies/
Closer to home, tomorrow afternoon on The Classical Network, as a convenient antidote to everyone’s anxiety about falling space junk, Michael Kownacky will present Haydn’s comic opera “Il mondo della luna” (“The World on the Moon”), on this week’s “Sunday Opera.” Based on the play by Carlo Goldoni, the scenario pits the clever Ecclitico against the foolish Buonafede. Ecclitico wins both love and fortune, the results of a ruse involving an alleged trip to the moon. (It will be April Fool’s Day, after all.)
The 1993 recording features Luigi Alva, Domenico Trimarchi, Edith Mathis, Arlene Auger, Frederica von Stade, and Anthony Rolfe Johnson. Listen in, this Sunday at 3 p.m. EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.
Thank you, Haydn, for your unflagging invention and reliable good humor. Even during Holy Week, your music lifts my spirits.
Composite artwork to promote tomorrow’s broadcast of “Il mondo della luna” courtesy of Michael Kownacky