The phrase "Viennese Classicists”, dating back to the 19th century, putting Mozart, Haydn and Beethoven on a pedestal, is still very popular. Yet performances combining the works of the three composers are not very common. It is therefore worth attending the joint concert of the NFM Wrocław Philharmonic and the cellist and conductor István Várdai – artistic director of the Budapest Chamber Orchestra “Ferenc Liszt” – to immerse yourself, together with the musicians, in the inspiring world of Viennese Classicism.

The concert will begin with a cheerful and energetic Serenata notturna in D major composed by Mozart, who was then only twenty years old. The fact that the three-movement work was written in Salzburg will remind us that although the three famous classics were associated with Vienna, none of them was born there, and they spent many fruitful years in completely different places. The composition from 1776 begins with a brisk march, followed by a captivating dance – a minuet. The whole thing ends with a daring rondo at a fast pace. The orchestra performing the work was divided into two groups, and the timpani played a special role in the piece. Joseph Haydn’s Cello Concerto No. 1 was written several years before the Serenata – in the first half of the 1760s, when Haydn served at the court in Eisenstadt. This masterpiece, combining virtuoso performance and an intimate atmosphere, was lost for many years. The discovery in 1961 by musicologist Oldřich Pulkert of a copy in the archives of Radenín Castle in southern Bohemia brought great joy to music lovers around the world.

The piece that will be played at the end of the concert clearly heralds the decline of the popularity of the Classical idiom and the arrival of the Romantic Sturm. According to interpretations formulated in the 19th century, Ludwig van Beethoven’s Symphony No. 2 is one of the works crowning the formative period in the work of the youngest of the three Classicists. It was completed during his in Heiligenstadt in 1802. Beethoven went to the small town, then located on the outskirts of Vienna, on the advice of a doctor, and his stay there was supposed to help him struggle with his progressive hearing loss. The prospect of going completely deaf was a tragedy for him. The Heiligenstad Testament prepared at that time is a testimony of facing the cruelty of fate, coming to terms with it and overcoming the breakdown. Beethoven’s personal crisis also is reflected, at least in the dramatic opening, in his Second Symphony, which was completed at that time.