User:Opus33/The 1808 performance of "The Creation" in honor of Joseph Haydn

The last public appearance of the composer Joseph Haydn was at a performance held in his honor of his oratorio The Creation.



The orchestra for the series mixed skilled amateur and professional players, with the latter at the head of the string sections. For instance, the concertmaster (head of the thirteen first violins) was the virtuoso Franz Clement, known to history for having premiered the Beethoven Violin Concerto in 1806. The wind players were largely drawn from the orchestra of the Theater an der Wien, a prominent Vienna theater.

Things to cover:


 * Haydn's own state of health
 * was for his 76th birthday (Webster, )
 * background on The Creation
 * the concert series of which it was the concluding event
 * Salieri led
 * venue
 * the trumpets and drums at his entrance
 * translation of libretto into Italian by Carpani
 * Those who attended, including homage of younger composers
 * The Wigand painting, with idenfication of who is in it
 * channel nice article on it
 * Had to leave early, perhaps blessing the audience
 * Haydn's final decline and demise

Nice refs:

 Music in Art Vol. 29, No. 1/2, (Spring–Fall 2004), pp. 123-133
 * Albrecht, Theodore (2004) The musicians in Balthasar Wigand's depiction of the performance of Haydn's Die Schöpfung, Vienna, 27 March 1808.