Mozart | Joseph HAYDN | Michael Haydn

Australian Romantic & Classical Orchestra trombones (photo credit: © Robert Catto)

Australian Romantic & Classical Orchestra joins with Australian Boys Choir and The Vocal Consort to present some of the finest 18th-century choral repertoire. 

This program features the sparkling Spatzenmesse of Mozart and includes works by fraternal composers Joseph and Michael Haydn.

Beginning with a Litany to the Virgin Mary by the teenaged Mozart, the first half of the performance also pays homage to the special bond between Franz Joseph Haydn and the younger Wolfgang Amadeus. Haydn’s Little Organ Mass, also in B flat major and so called for the extended keyboard obbligato of the Benedictus, was dedicated to the Hospitaller Order of the Brothers of Saint John of God in Eisenstadt and Haydn was the work’s first organ soloist.

Members of The Vocal Consort (photo credit: James Lauritz)

Joseph’s younger brother Michael was also a prolific composer of devotional music, most of which is yet to enter the realm of regular performance in either church or concert settings. Mozart was clearly influenced by Michael Haydn’s own setting of the Requiem in C minor, with the similarities between them striking.

Following a similar structure to K.109, Michael Haydn’s own Litany, MH 71 takes on a sense of grandeur and opulence with the inclusion of trumpets and drums. This is the work’s first Australian performance.

Known as the Sparrow Mass for the chirping violin figuration in the ‘Osanna’, K.220 employs ebullient orchestral colours and contrapuntal imitation to sparkle as a work of effervescence and bring this performance to a joyous conclusion.

Read the Austrian Encounters concert program.

Ticketholders can claim back 25% of the cost through the Victorian Dining and Entertainment Program.

ST. MARY’S BASILICA, GEELONG

Saturday 21 May 2022 | 3.00pm
136-148 Yarra St, Geelong (VIC)

SACRED HEART CHURCH, CARLTON

Sunday 22 May 2022 | 3.00pm
Rathdowne St & Pelham St, Carlton (VIC)

This concert was live-streamed on Australian Digital Concert Hall.

ARTISTS

Suzanne Shakespeare | soprano
Emily Bauer-Jones | contralto
Henry Choo | tenor
Stephen Marsh | baritone

Australian Boys Choir

The Vocal Consort

Australian Romantic &
Classical Orchestra

Nicholas Dinopoulos | conductor

PROGRAM

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Litaniae Lauretanae in B flat major, K.109

Joseph Haydn
Missa Brevis Sancti Joannis de Deo

Michael Haydn
Litaniae Lauretanae, MH 71
(Australian premiere)

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Missa Brevis in C major, K.220 (Spatzenmesse)

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