Dream Concert

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"Today,Wednesday,April 2nd 1800,Herr Ludwig van Beethoven will have the honour to give a grand concerto for his benefit in the Royal Imperial Court Theater beside the Burg. The pieces which will be performed are the following:
1.A grand Symphony by the late Chapelmaster Mozart.
2.An aria from The Creation by the Princely Chapelmaster Herr Haydn,sung by Mlle.Saal.
3.A grand concerto for the Pianoforte,played and composed byHerr Ludwig van Beethoven.
4.A septet,most humbly and obediently dedicated to Her Majesty the Empress, and composed by Herr Ludwig van Beethoven,for stringed and three wind instruments,played by messers.Schuppanzigh,Schreiber,Schindlecker,Bar,Ni ckel,Matauschek, and Dietzel.
5. A duet from Hadyn's Creation.
6. Herr Ludwig van Beethoven will improvise on the Pianoforte.
7. A new grand Symphony with complete orchestra,composed by Herr Ludwig van Beethoven.
Tickets for boxes and stalls are to be had of Herr Beethoven at his lodgings in the Tiefen Graben,No 241 ,third story.
Prices of admission are as usual.
The begining is at half past six."

What a program!

What would your dream concert be?

[Pastorali]

It's not possible to top this program! In my opinion, there would be a large number of dream concerts. But my personal one will happen next year in march: Hélène Grimaud and the SWR-Sinfonie-Orchester playing the EMPEROR.

...oh, what a long time...

[Chaszz]

Pretty hard to equal let alone top. A great deal of respect is shown Mozart and Haydn by Beethoven in having a good portion of the program composed by them. Or was he still too "new" at this point to use only his own works?

But the part that really struck me was his selling tickets personally out of his apartment! I guess there must have been some sort of ticket brokers then, but we all know Beethoven valued his pfennigs and wouldn't have wished to share a percentage if he could help it. Can one imagine bargaining with the master: "A little more in the center, please, Herr Beethoven. Ach, that is too steep, can you not knock something off...no, no, I didn't mean to offend!..." Slam!!

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Chas.zz you paint a most amusing picture of the Master Composer selling the tickets to his concert,self pomotion was de rigure , was it not,in Beethoven's time .I did leave a line out of my quote ,it was that tickets were also available at the door.So if one was at odds with the great Composer ,you might still get to hear him on the evening if it was not sold out of course!

[Joy]

Originally posted by Pastorali:
It's not possible to top this program! In my opinion, there would be a large number of dream concerts. But my personal one will happen next year in march: Hélène Grimaud and the SWR-Sinfonie-Orchester playing the EMPEROR.

...oh, what a long time...

I had the priviledge of attending a performance of the 5th Concerto last May, absolutely wonderful, awe inspiring! Wonderfully performed! Enjoy!!



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'Truth and beauty joined'