Haydn and Orff: Apr 4–6, 2025
- cbeeson69
- Apr 5
- 8 min read
Franz Josef Haydn
Symphony No. 96 "Miracle"
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Franz Josef Haydn (1732-1809) was an Austrian composer Classical era. He composed an astonishing number of works in his lifetime and is credited with templating the symphony and the string quartet musical forms despite being primarily self taught as a composer. For 'fathering' the symphony and the string quartet forms he is nicknamed "Papa". Frankie Joe "Papa" Haydn wrote 104 symphonies. That's right. ONE HUNDRED AND FOUR! There is beauty, vitality, and humor in much of his work, and his "Miracle" Symphony No. 96 is no exception.
HIGHLIGHTS
Haydn was the son of a wheelwright and market manager, and was born in a rural Austrian village. His parents saw his musical talent at an early age and sent him away to study voice and keyboard at the age of seven. He never lived at home with them again!
Haydn received almost no composition training, instead learning by observation and reading music theory textbooks. He spent much of his youth in poverty, freelancing as a performing musician until the age of 25 when he was offered a music director position by wealthy aristocrat Count Morzin. Here he was able to delve into composing as part of his responsibilities. In 1761 the Count fell on hard times and had to let Haydn go. He was immediately snapped up by the even more wealthy and powerful Prince Nikolaus of the Esterházy family.
Prince Nikolaus was a huge supporter of the arts and kept Haydn very busy composing for all sorts of occasions, leading the orchestra and chamber ensembles, and managing the musician staff. He also had a very strict contract which essentially owned Haydn and all of Haydn's work. Excerpt: "The said Haydn shall be under obligation to compose such music as his Serene Highness may command, and neither to communicate such compositions to any other person, nor to allow them to be copied, but he shall retain them for the absolute use of his Highness, and not compose for any other person without the knowledge and permission of his Highness." Not so different to today's major record labels... just ask The Artist Formerly Known As Prince!
It was a good job with decent pay, but because of the restrictive contract, Haydn was unable to travel away from his relatively remote Hungarian palace workplace in order to fully take advantage of being Europe's leading composer. This all changed in 1790 when Anton, son of Nikolaus, became Prince and DOGEd the music staff to cut costs. Prince Anton kept Haydn as a part time employee which came with a big pay cut but it also allowed substantially more freedom in his contract for owning, publishing, and promoting his own work as well as traveling to perform it.
This is how he ended up in London where he was invited to stay for a while, composing and performing. A review of Haydn's first in-person London performance says "Haydn himself presided at the piano-forte; and the sight of that renowned composer so electrified the audience, as to excite an attention and a pleasure superior to any that had ever been caused by instrumental music in England.” He was basically the Beyoncé or Taylor Swift of his day. 😎🤘🏽
Symphony No. 96 was premiered in 1791 during that London trip. It was later nicknamed the "Miracle" based on a slightly apocryphal story that a chandelier fell from the ceiling, narrowly missing the audience since they were all rushing the stage in a frenzy during the applause. Apparently there's some truth to the chandelier story but it happened at a performance a few years later of his 102nd symphony. I know. Details, details... And yet it seems to have inspired a little known piece of musical theater called Phantom of the Opera?? 👻😉
The symphony has 4 movements: Adagio-Allegro (slow introduction followed by a lively main portion), Andante (walking tempo in a lilting swing feel), Menuetto: Allegretto (a waltzy medium tempo dance feel), and Finale: Vivace (a rip roaring lively tempo).
The third movement features an extended oboe solo accompanied by solo strings in the middle section, and the final movement is an interesting mixture of rondo form and sonata form, showing Haydn's continued interest in compositional experimentation and innovation.
A typical performance lasts about 22 minutes.
Carl Orff
Carmina Burana
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Carl Orff (1895-1982) was a German composer of the 20th century modernist era. He was also a well respected and highly influential music educator specializing in youth development. As a composer Orff is best known for his 1936 cantata Carmina Burana, one of the most consistently performed and highly rated concert works since its 1937 premiere.
HIGHLIGHTS
Orff composed Carmina Burana during 1935 and 1936 when he was in his early 40s.
Carmina Burana is the first installment of a tryptich that includes Catulli Carmina (1940-1943) and Trionfo di Afrodite (1951), although the latter two receive far fewer performances.
Not to yuck anyone's yum about this enduringly popular work and its influential creator, but there is a LOT of debate and lack of total clarity about whether or not Orff was ideologically aligned to the Nazi party. What is documented and clear is that Orff definitely benefited from the Nazi regime. Several of Orff's friends and associates went into exile between 1933 and 1939, but Orff stayed. He never officially joined the Nazi party or hold any type of leadership position within the Third Reich, and there is evidence that he attempted to sway Nazi government officials regarding the treatment of a few of his composer and musician associates, but it is also true that he was an active member of the Reichsmusikkammer as required of musicians in the Third Reich. He was also one of several German composers under the Nazi regime who were asked to compose new incidental music to Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream after the Nazi party banned the music of its original creator Felix Mendelssohn based on his Jewish heritage. (Notably, none of these compositions were successful in filling Mendelssohn's shoes. 💪🏽💪🏽💪🏽) Orff also composed music for noted Nazi propagandist Leni Riefenstahl's filming of a performance at the 1936 Berlin Olympics. In the 1946 denazification process an evaluator from the US Office of Military Government rated Orff at 'Grey-C' level which was defined as "compromised by their actions during the Nazi period but not subscribers to Nazi doctrine". Facts that go a long way toward reinforcing the concept that people can be essentially good and still make terrible choices. They are the ones who get to live with the consequences of those choices and hopefully learn to make better ones. It also illustrates the possibility that art and its creator can be considered separately. (Pablo Picasso, Richard Wagner, or Michael Jackson anyone?)
Carmina Burana was premiered in Frankfurt in 1937 and became immediately popular in Nazi Germany. Historian Michael Kater wrote "by 1945 it stood out as the single universally important work produced during the entire span of the Third Reich”. One can assume this assessment comes with a number of caveats not least of which is the continued compositional output of imprisoned "enemies of the state", some of whom were murdered but whose compositions from that time managed to survive. Still it is worth noting as it is an epic work both in terms of scale - large orchestra, full chorus including children's chorus, 3 vocal soloists, with staging direction - and in terms of its 60-70 minute length. Its full title, translated from Latin, is "Carmina Burana - Secular songs for singers and choruses to be sung together with instruments and magical images".
Carmina Burana is a cantata in 5 sections based on texts from 24 poems found in an 1847 collection of the 11th-13th century Medieval period. The libretto is primarily secular Latin with smatterings of Middle High German and Old French and covers topics universal to humans no matter when they live their lives - the capriciousness of abundance and luck, the transitory nature of life, joy at the return of springtime, and the risks and rewards of drink, food, sex, and gambling. The usual wholesome family entertainment you've come to expect from a night at the symphony! 🤓😂
The structure is based on the idea of the Fortuna Wheel, which is exactly what you think it is and not at all having to do with Pat Sajak. (Although the chorus does sing "Vana" a few times at one point...). A drawing of the Fortuna Wheel shows four phrases that the turning wheel could land upon - Regnabo, Regno, Regnavi, Sum sine regno.(I shall reign, I reign, I have reigned, I am without a realm).
During the course of each part of Carmina Burana we hear the wheel of fortune spinning between competing emotional states. The very recognizable "O Fortuna" music bookends this cycle at the beginning and end of the whole work.
The vocal soloists are utilized in very dramatic fashion. Some of the arias are purposely composed with intensely challenging technical characteristics. For example the tenor soloist only sings once, after waiting for quite some time, and in an extremely high range so as to depict the pridefulness of a beautiful swan as it is being roasted on a spit. (You'll never think of dinner the same way again! 🪿🍗) The baritone arias include very high notes from the top of the tessitura and are often sung in falsetto which is quite unusual and unexpected coming from a normally powerful and low vocal range. Similarly, in super dramatic fashion, the soprano aria Dulcissime requires her to go from a relatively low starting pitch to a VERY high pitch AND THEN HANG AROUND SINGING LOTS OF NOTES THERE WHILE SOMEHOW SOUNDING SUPER RELAXED. It's all part of the drama. 😎
Carmina Burana is consistently ranked in the top 100 pieces of classical music by listeners and has remained wildly popular since its 1937 premiere. Noted music critic and author Alex Ross beautifully snarked "the music itself commits no sins simply by being and remaining popular. That Carmina Burana has appeared in hundreds of films and television commercials is proof that it contains no diabolical message, indeed that it contains no message whatsoever."
Case in point, the ‘O, Fortuna’ music is regularly featured in popular culture as a hyper masculine signaling device, often satirically and often earnestly without realizing it leans into satire. For example: at sporting events like introducing football teams onto the field, baseball team batting walkup music, World Wrestling Entertainment events, in commercials for Old Spice cologne and Carlton Draught beer, and by talking head cultural and political pundits to puff themselves up or jab at the puffiness of others. It has also been used in film and television productions and trailers, including my personal favorite discovery: the trailer for Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island. I only wish I could've sourced a video link for you to enjoy this fantastic illustration of the use of high art in our everyday lives! Instead you'll just have to deal with a great live concert rendition and a trippy AF staged version with English subtitles and some really suspect re-orchestration going on...