ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½

Use ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½.com or the new ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ App to listen to ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ podcasts, Radio 4 and the World Service outside the UK.

Episode details

Radio 4,21 Jun 2016,30 mins

Series Series 13

Haydn's Drum Roll Symphony No 103

Tales from the Stave

Available for over a year

Josef Haydn's two visits to London produced the final flourish of his symphonic writing. His fame, established in the Esterhazy Court in the Austro-Hungarian Empire had travelled before him and once in the UK he was something of a celebrity. But on his final departure in 1795 he took most of his music with him. The fact that the handwritten manuscript of the Drumroll Symphony, his 103rd and penultimate, is in the hands of the British Library is due to its journey by way of the French composer Luigi Cherubini. Frances is joined by the British Library's Richard Chesser, Percussionist Mick Doran, Co-leader of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment Maggie Faultless and music scholar David Wynn Jones to tell the story of that journey. They're also inspired by the careful and clear penmanship of the composer, the small but telling instructions to players and the brilliance of his creativity under the pressure of the London celebrity spotlight. Producer: Tom Alban.

Programme Website
More episodes