Friday 24 September 2021, 18.00

HAYDN AND ESZTERHÁZA
Lecture by music historian Katalin Komlós and concert by the Haydn Barytontrio Budapest

Institute for Musicology - Bartók Hall
(Tancsics Mihály utca 7, Budapest, 1014)

Programme:

The Poetry of Haydn
Lecture by music historian Dr. Katalin Komlós Professor Emeritus

Joseph Haydn: Baryton Trio in A major, Hob. XI:25
Adagio cantabile, Menuet – Allegretto, Finale – Allegro assai
Joseph Burgksteiner: Baryton Divertimento, No. 24
Andantino, Menuett, Finale – Allegro
Luigi Tomasini: Baryton Trio in C major, (Korcak 19)
Allegro, Menuetto, Rondo – Allegretto

Performed by:
the Haydn Barytontrio Budapest (Balázs Kakuk – barytongamba, József Sándor – viola, András Kaszanyitzky – cello).

One might be forgiven for considering Haydn, the great master of Viennese classicism, an honorary Hungarian, because he made such a great contribution to Hungarian musical culture. In 1761, at the age of 29, at the invitation of Paul Anton Prince Esterházy, he took up service in the Esterházy family, which spent the winter months in Vienna, and the summer in the palace at Eisenstadt (Kismárton). He was appointed second conductor, then after the death of the excellent composer Gregorius Joseph Werner in 1766, he became the Kapellmeister. Meanwhile, Paul Anton died in 1762, and since he left no child, his title and fortune were inherited by his younger brother Nikolaus ‘the Magnificent’ Esterházy, who until he died in 1790 was Haydn’s employer. He greatly respected the composer, and was a generous patron of the arts, himself playing a string instrument which today counts as a curiosity: the baryton. Perhaps the fact that it was very difficult to play attracted him, for Prince Nikolaus liked a challenge (he had the imposing Esterházy palace in Fertő-Eszterháza, the ‘Hungarian Versailles’ built on marshland). The baryton is a member of the viola da gama family, and the modern instrument it most resembles is the cello. In the 1760s and 1770s, one of Haydn’s regular tasks was to write baryton trios. In these chamber works, the baryton played by the prince had the main role. Haydn composed 126 such trios, including the A major trio written in 1772, which opens the concert. Following that, we shall hear a baryton divertimento written for Nikolaus Prince Esterházy by the contemporary Burgksteiner. This unusual programme closes with the baryton trio by Luigi Tomasini, the Italian concertmaster of the court orchestra conducted by Haydn.

Performers

Katalin Komlós studied musicology at the Academy of Music in Budapest under the guidance of professors Bence Szabolcsi, Dénes Bartha, Lajos Bárdos, and Zoltán Gárdonyi. Between 1980 and 1983 she obtained her PhD from Cornell University and studied fortepiano with professors James Webster, Neal Zaslaw and Malcolm Bilson.
A specialist in fortepiano playing, she has been performing for 30 years in Hungary and abroad. Alongside her regular partner Mária Zádori, she has performed with Malcolm Bilson, György Vashegyi and the Orfeo Orchestra, Miklós Spányi and Anna Korondi, among others.
In addition to Hungary, she has given concerts, courses, and talks in Austria, Switzerland, Germany, England, Ireland and the United States of America.
In addition to her performing activities, she is also active as a lecturer and researcher. Her main research interests are eighteenth-century keyboard music, the history of eighteenth-century keyboard instruments and performance practice.
Her academic publications appear mainly in English in leading musicological journals and edited volumes. Her book Fortepianos and Their Music was published by Oxford University Press in 1995, followed ten years later by a Hungarian edition.
Her volume, Tanulmányok a 18. századi zene történetéből [Studies in the History of 18th Century Music], was published by Rózsavölgyi and Partners in 2015.
She has lectured at the Kodály Institute, Boston (USA), the Hochschule für Musik, Detmold, Germany, and held masterclasses at Trinity College, Dublin, in 2002, and the Conservatorio della Svizzera Italia, Lugano, Italy. For many years she was Head of the Department of Music Theory at the Liszt Academy, and is currently Professor Emeritus of the institution.
She has won numerous prizes: the Erkel Prize, Grout Memorial Prize (USA), Doctor of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Knight's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Hungary, Grand Prize for Musical Composers - National Association of Hungarian Creative Artists (MAOE), and the Széchenyi Prize.

The Haydn Barytontrio Budapest ensemble was founded by Kakuk Balázs in 1980 with the intention of reviving Joseph Haydn’s almost 200 compositions for baryton (an original instrument of Prince Esterházy Miklós, the Magnificent) in order to perform the pieces in authentic and original instrumentation. The Ensemble plays all the baryton trios by Haydn, as well as quintets, octets and the baryton divertimenti by other composers of the Esterházy circle (G. J. Werner, L. Tomasini, J. Burgksteiner, A. Naumann, A. Lidl, and Chr. G. Krause). Of course, the works of 20th century and contemporary composers: Ferenc Farkas, Zsolt Durkó, H. Gattermeier, and Gottfried von Einem are also part of our repertoire. Miklós Maros, a world-famous Hungarian composer living in Stockholm, dedicated his BARYTONALIS trio to Balázs Kakuk, and its premiere in Basil in 2013 was highly successful. The Haydn Baryontrio records film music, performs for TV producations and tours worldwide. On the Hungaroton label they have released discs SLPD 12979, and HCD 31174.
www.haydnbarytontrio.hu

Members of the Haydn Barytontrio Budapest:

Kakuk Balázs is a cellist, and artist of the viola da gamba and barytongamba, and from 1979–2013 was professor for cello and chamber music at the Liszt Music Academy and Béla Bartók Conservatory in Budapest. As a member of the Baroque Quartet Collegium Musicum Budapest he was winner of the competition of ‘Festival van Vlaanderen’ in Bruges in 1978. As well as the modern cello he plays all the viols: soprano, alto, tenor, and bass, in the originalmensur as well as the 17-string barytongamba. He is a well-known specialist of early music on authentic instruments, a professor of master classes in Hungary and abroad, and a member of the jury in prominent music competitions. As a performing soloist and chamber musician he has travelled the world, and made many radio, television and prize-winning CD recordings.

Sándor József began to study the violin at the age of 5. He won many violin competitions for young people in Hungary. He studied at the Bartók Conservatory and the Liszt Academy of Music, Budapest, graduating in 1977. He was principal violist and section leader in the Bruckner Orchestra Linz, Bochumer Symphoniker, Oper Graz, Hungarian Radio Orchestra, Hungarian State Philharmonic. He participates in world tours, releases CDs and DVDs, and frequently performs as a chamber music.

Kaszanyitzky András graduated as a cellist in 1998 at the Liszt Music Academy, Budapest. Winner of several home and foreign competitions. In 1996 he was awarded prize second of Popper Cello Competition in Budapest. He played in the Somogyi Quartet, the Sándor Frigyes Chamber Orchestra, the Erkel Ferenc Chamber Orchestra, and in the London City Opera. He is a permanent member of the Weiner-Szász Chamber Symphony Orchestra and the HAYDN BARYTONTRIO BUDAPEST. He has given concerts in Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, France, England, Netherlands, Slovakia, Scotland, USA, China and Thailand.