Around 1780 Haydn and Mozart began to compose for mixed ensembles with winds and strings, often in the form of a Divertimento or a Notturno.

Beethoven wrote his famous Septet in 1799, which was the first in that composition and thus in fact the first major ensemble work, which is one of the reasons why it has been programmed for the next edition of the then 40-year-old Orlando Festival in 2022. As a tribute to Beethoven, the artistic director adapted Henk Guittart the two Romanzen for violin and orchestra for an ensemble of 11 musicians, tonight you will hear the Romanze in F, next year the Romanze in G.

Grand Finale with large ensembles

Louis Spohr was one of the most important musicians of the first half of the 19th century. In addition to being a virtuoso violinist, he was also a composer, teacher, conductor and writer. When he came to Vienna, he met the former musician Johann Tost, who had become a businessman. Tost asked Spohr to write a work for solo winds and strings, which led to the Nonet, also the first work in this line-up that would inspire many later composers. Rudolf Escher also built on that tradition by writing a symphony for ten instruments, the Sinfonia, now widely regarded as one of his masterpieces.

PROGRAM

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)
Romance op.50 (ca.1798)
(Arrangement for solo violin and ensemble by Henk Guittart 2021)

Rudolf Escher (1912-1980)
Symphony (1973-75)

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Louis Spohr (1784-1859)
Nonet (1813)

Source : Theater aan het Vrijthof Website