Coffee and hot chocolates

Donald Macleod appraises Haydn's warm friendship with Mozart and his trickier dealings with his pupil Beethoven, with music from Haydn's celebrated Opus 33 and Opus 64 quartets.

The streets must have seemed like they were paved with gold when Haydn visited London in 1791. He was feted and applauded everywhere he went as one of Europe’s leading composers. He hobnobbed with royalty, the Prince of Wales commissioned a portrait of him from leading society portraitist John Hoppner. It’s still regarded as one of the best images we have today.

Haydn could hardly have imagined all this as a boy. His really is a rags-to-riches story. Born in 1732 in humble circumstances, Haydn's musical talent won him a position as a choir boy in Vienna's St. Stephen's Cathedral. However, he was forced to leave after his voice broke and, by the age of 17, he was on the streets, with only “three miserable shirts and a worn-out coat” to his name. Happily, his life did then take an upward turn. Haydn was employed by the Esterhàzys, one of the most powerful and influential families in the Hapsburg monarchy, for an astonishing 48 years.

But this week, Donald Macleod puts the public face of this internationally celebrated figure to one side. He’s going to be looking at Haydn through a narrower lens, drawing a picture of the composer through the relationships he enjoyed with some of his closest family and friends.

Still appreciated for its coffee houses, Vienna was where Haydn and Mozart socialised and where Beethoven took lessons with the eminent older composer. The cost of beverages proved to be a source of contention between a hard up pupil and his teacher.

Six Danses Allemandes Hob IX:12 (excerpts)
Vienna Bella Musica Ensemble
Michael Dittrich, conductor

String Quartet, Op. 33 No. 5 in G major
II. Largo e cantabile
IV: Finale: Allegretto
Goldmund Quartet

Symphony No. 82 in C major, 'The Bear'
I: Vivace
Basel Chamber Orchestra
Giovanni Antonini, conductor

Missa Cellensis in honorem Beatissimæ Virginis Mariæ, Hob. XXII:5
Kyrie eleison I
Christe Eleison
Kyrie Eleison II
Benjamin Bruns, tenor
RIAS Chamber Choir
Akademie für Alte Musik, Berlin
Justin Doyle, conductor

String Quartet, Op. 64 No. 5 in D major 'The Lark'
I: Allegro moderato
Emerson Quartet

Der Sturm Hob.XXIVa:8
North German Radio Chorus
Göttingen Festival Orchestra
Nicholas McGegan, conductor

Producer: Johannah Smith