Classics in the Nieuwe Kerk

A little composer used to go to Vienna. That's where centuries of music history was written. For example, by Haydn and Beethoven who both left a very important mark on music in the Austrian capital.

Cherubini

Luigi Cherubini was an influential (opera) composer of Italian descent who spent most of his career in France. Although he is less known to the general public today, in his day he was admired by composers such as Beethoven, Schumann and Brahms. Beethoven even considered Cherubini the second greatest composer...after himself, of course. In June 1805, Cherubini accepted an invitation to travel to Vienna, where his work was greatly appreciated. Here he gave concerts, attended a performance of Beethoven's Fidelio and met Haydn. He was also commissioned for an opera which resulted in Faniska, about a brave woman who is kidnapped by a tyrant but is eventually rescued by husband, a Polish commander. Although Faniska itself is rarely performed, the overture remains a powerful example of Cherubini's dramatic style and his influence on early Romanticism.

Haydn

Joseph Haydn, often called the "father of the symphony," was also a master of composing vocal music. His cantata Arianna a Naxos, written around 1789-1790, is one of his most expressive and dramatic works and tells the tragic story of Ariadne, who is abandoned by Theseus on the island of Naxos. The cantata consists of two recitatives and two arias, in which Haydn masterfully expresses the emotions of Ariadne. In the first recitative, Ariadne is still hopeful, thinking that Theseus has only temporarily left. But soon the mood turns to despair and anger when she realizes she has been abandoned. The first aria, "Dove sei, mio bel tesoro?", is a passionate expression of longing and sorrow. In the second recitative and subsequent aria, "Ah! che morir vorrei," the emotional intensity reaches a peak, with dramatic modulations and expressive vocal lines.

Beethoven

The noted musicologist H.C. Robbins Landon once described Beethoven's Second Symphony as a firm warning to anyone who unquestioningly draws parallels between Beethoven's life and his music. To him, it was clear that Beethoven's "muses were always on a higher plane, often independent of his physical and mental struggles." Beethoven composed his Second Symphony in the years 1801 and 1802. And indeed, the sunny nature of this composition contrasts sharply with the severe mental breakdown he experienced during the same period. His depression was caused by persistent hearing complaints and the realization that he might become completely deaf. On the advice of one of the many doctors he consulted in his despair, Beethoven retreated in the spring and summer of 1802 to the village of Heiligenstadt, which was well regarded for its sulfur springs. His mood certainly did not improve, as evidenced by the famous Testament of Heiligenstadt he wrote on Oct. 10, 1802. But somehow he managed to overcome the crisis and determinedly continued on his way. Eventually, Beethoven's deafness would not increase to the point where it became difficult for him to hold a conversation until after 1812; after 1817, he was also unable to listen to music. Beethoven carefully preserved the "will" discovered shortly after his death, but no longer expressed anxiety or despair.

Sketches for a Second Symphony already existed, but in view of a charity concert to be held during Easter week, Beethoven sat down in earnest during the winter of 1801/1802. After the composition was mostly completed in February, it turned out that the concert would not take place, leaving Beethoven months to delete and improve. The symphony begins boisterously but quickly binds in. What is particularly striking about the work are the pastoral-like sounds in the very drawn-out second movement. The late-classical symphony was premiered simultaneously with Beethoven's Third Piano Concerto and his oratorio Christus am Ölberge, on April 5, 1803 at the Theater An der Wien.