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27th May
How Symphonies were Born in a London Pub
by Robert Samuels
Today we talk of “symphony concerts” and “symphony orchestras”, but where did these come from? The answer involves a fascinating story stretching across the whole of the eighteenth century, as the new and strange idea of just sitting and listening to music, rather than singing or dancing to it, gradually took off in musical life across Europe. One of the most surprising aspects of this story is the part played in it by Britain: this talk begins with Haydn’s five seasons in 1790s London, which he described as the happiest of his professional life. It then shows how Mozart and Beethoven, both friends of Haydn, followed his new idea of how to arrange concert programmes. And like so many good ideas, this one really did begin in a London pub.
Robert Samuels is a Senior Lecturer in Music at The Open University. He has written and taught on the music of Bach, Mozart, Haydn, Schubert, Schumann, Brahms, Mahler, Schoenberg, Weill, Shostakovich, Britten, Cage, Boulez and Birtwistle amongst others. His book Mahler’s Sixth Symphony: A study in musical semiotics was published by Cambridge University Press in 1995. He is currently writing a study of the symphony and the novel in the nineteenth century. Robert worked on the award-winning BBC4 TV series Symphony in 2012, has spoken on BBC Radio 3, has organised and spoken at study events for the Oxford Lieder Festival, and gives talks for The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment.
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