Haydn: Il ritorno di Tobia
When a composer has created a masterpiece in a given genre, their achievements immortalise their name and work, which we preserve in our memory and compare to everything else. What is even more interesting is to get to learn about their initial steps in the area in question and find out what their earliest attempts were like. This concert offers a chance to do this, with a performance of the rarely heard first oratorio by the creator of The Creation, which is performed at Müpa Budapest's New Year's concerts from year to year.
Haydn did not compose his first oratorio until 1775. Then, at the age of 43, he wrote his Italian-language oratorio Il ritorno di Tobia to a libretto by the brothers Giovanni Gastone Boccherini and Luigi Boccherini. The work - his most extensive and demanding piece thus far - was performed a total of three times during his lifetime, all three at a concerts of Vienna's Tonkünstler-Societät. The first was during the year of its creation, with a large cast and orchestra and with great success. The second staging took place in 1784 - a notable evening in that in all likelihood it marked Haydn's first meeting with Mozart. The third and final time was in 1808. On this occasion, the work found a major rival, as this was also the evening of Beethoven's famous composer's concert, which featured the public premières of his fifth and sixth symphonies and his Piano Concerto No. 4 in G major. This time, the work will be performed by internationally renowned early music specialists Ann Hallenberg, Roberta Invernizzi, Sophie Karthäuser, Anders Dahlin and Christian Immler accompanied by the Purcell Choir and the Orfeo Orchestra, all rehearsed by György Vashegyi.
Conductor: György Vashegyi
Cast:
Anna Ann Hallenberg
Tobia Anders Dahlin
Sara Sophie Karthäuser
Tobit Christian Immler
Raffaele Roberta Invernizzi
Featuring:
Purcell Choir
Orfeo Orchestra