Barclays House Choir

Musical Director James Grocott Chairman David Cooke web site http: //www.bhchoir.org.uk

email chairman@bhchoir.org.uk

with

The St Peter's Orchestra Leader Andrew Foot

And

Jacqueline Foan - Soprano

Colin Howard - Tenor

Andrew Foan - Bass

Conducted by

James Grocott

at

St Peter's Parkstone Poole Rector - Canon Nigel LLoyd

In association with

Barclays Bank Arts Council

Saturday

8th May 2010

7:30pm

Franz Joseph

Haydn

The

Seasons

Sugar H ill , W areham Forest. Dorset

Photo t aken by and copyright W AVP L imit ed

Franz Joseph Haydn 31st March 1732 Rohrau, Austria 31st May 1809 - Vienna, Austria

Haydn w as born in Rohrau, Austria son of Mathias Haydn, a

wheelw right w ho also served as the village mayor. Neither

of his parents could read music; how ever, Mathias w as an

enthusiastic folk musician, w ho had taught himself to play

the harp.

Haydn's parents had noticed that their son w as musically

gifted and knew that in Rohrau he w ould have no chance to

obtain any serious musical training. It w as for this reason

that they accepted a proposal from their relative Johann

Matthias Frankh, the schoolmaster and choirmaster in

Hainburg, that Haydn be apprenticed to Frankh in his home

to train as a music ian. Haydn therefore w ent w ith Frankh to

Hainburg (seven miles aw ay) and never again lived w ith his parents. He w as six years old.

Life in the Frankh household w as not easy for Haydn, how ever, he did begin his musical training there, and

soon w as able to play both harps ichord and violin as w ell as singing in the church choir.

His musical talent w as soon brought to the attention of Georg von Reutter, the director of music in St.

Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna. Haydn passed an audit ion w ith Reutter, and in 1740 moved to Vienna,

where he w orked for the next nine years as a chorister.

He w as instructed in Latin and other school subjects as w ell as voice, violin, and keyboard. Reutter w as of

litt le help to Haydn in the areas of music theory and composit ion, giving him only tw o lessons in his entire

time as chorister. How ever, since St. Stephen's w as one of the leading musical centres in Europe, Haydn

was able to learn a great deal simply by serving as a professional musician there.

Dur ing the follow ing years, Haydn w orked at many different jobs: as a music teacher, as a street

serenader, and eventually, in 1752, as valet - accompanist for the Italian composer Nicola Porpora, from

whom he later said he learned " the true fundamentals of composit ion".

As his skills increased, Haydn began to acquire a public reputation, f irst as the composer of an opera, Der

krumme Teufel "The Limping Devil", w ritten for the comic actor Johann Joseph Felix Kurz, w hose stage

name w as "Bernardon". The w ork w as premiered successfully in 1753, but w as soon closed dow n by the

censors. Haydn also noticed, apparently w ithout annoyance, that w orks he had simply given aw ay w ere

being published and sold in local music shops. Betw een 1754 and 1756 Haydn also w orked freelance for

the court in Vienna. He w as among several musicians w ho w ere paid for services as supplementary

musicians at balls given for the imperial children during carnival season, and as supplementary singers in

the imperial chapel in Lent and Holy Week.

With the increase in his reputation, Haydn eventually w as

able to obtain aristocratic patronage, crucial for the career

of a composer in his day. Countess Thun, having seen

one of Haydn's composit ions, summoned him and

engaged him as her singing and keyboard teacher. In

1756, Baron Carl Josef Fürnberg employed Haydn at his

country estate, Weinzierl, w here the composer w rote his f irst string quartets. Fürnberg later recommended Haydn

to Count Morzin, w ho, in 1757, became his f irst full time

employer.

Haydn's job tit le under Count Morzin w as Kapellmeister,

that is, music director. He led the count's small orchestra and w rote his f irst symphonies for this ensemble. In 1760,

w ith the security of a Kapellmeister posit ion, Haydn

married. How ever, Haydn and his w ife had a completely

unhappy marriage, from w hich the law s of the time

permitted them no escape; and they produced no

children.

Count Morzin soon suffered f inancial reverses that forced him to dismiss his musical establishment, but

Haydn w as quickly offered a similar job (1761) as Vice Kapellmeister to the Esterházy family, one of the

wealthiest and most important in the Austrian Empire.

As a "house off icer" in the Esterházy establishment, Haydn w ore livery and follow ed the family as they moved among their various palaces, including a grand new palace built in rural Hungary in the 1760s.

Haydn had a huge range of responsibilit ies, including composit ion, running the orchestra, playing

chamber music for and w ith his patrons, and eventually the mounting of operatic productions.

Dur ing the nearly thirty years that Haydn w orked at the Es terházy court, he produced a f lood of

compositions, and his musical style continued to develop. His popularity in the outside w orld also increased as Haydn came to w rite as much for publication as for his employer. Haydn also gradually

came to feel more isolated and lonely, particular ly as the court came to spend most of the year far from

Vienna. Haydn particularly longed to vis it Vienna because of his friendships there.

One friend in Vienna w as Wolfgang A madeus Mozart, w hom Haydn met sometime around 1784. The

tw o composers occasionally played in string quartets together. Haydn w as hugely impressed w ith Mozart's w ork and praised it unstintingly to others. Mozart evidently returned the esteem, as seen in his

dedication of a set of six quartets, now called the "Haydn" quartets, to his friend.

In 1790, Prince Nikolaus died and w as succeeded by a thoroughly unmusical prince w ho dismissed the

entire musical establishment and put Haydn on a pens ion. Freed of his obligations, Haydn w as able to accept a lucrative offer from Johann Peter Salomon, a German impresario, to visit England and conduct

new symphonies w ith a large orchestra.

The v isits w ere a huge success. Audiences f locked to concerts; Haydn augmented his fame and made

large profits, thus becoming f inancially secure. Musically, the visits to England generated some of

Haydn's best-know n w orks, including the Surprise, Military, Drumroll, and London symphonies, the Rider quartet, and the "Gypsy Rondo" piano tr io.

Betw een visits, Haydn taught Ludw ig van Beethoven. Beethoven found him unsatisfactory as a teacher

and sought help from others; the relationship betw een the tw o was sometimes rather tense.

Haydn returned to Vienna in 1795, moved into a large house in the suburb of Gumpendorf, and turned

to the composit ion of large w orks for chorus and orchestra. These include his tw o great oratorios (The

Creation and The Seasons) and six masses for the Eszterházy family, w hich by this time w as once

again headed by a musically-inclined prince. Haydn also composed instrumental music: the popular

Trumpet Concerto and the last nine in his long series of string quartets, including the Fifths, Emperor,

and Sunrise quartets.

In 1802, an illness from w hich Haydn had been suffering for some time had increased in severity to the

point that he became physically unable to compose. Haydn w as w ell cared for by his servants, and he

received many visitors and public honours during his last years, but they could not have been very

happy years for him. During his illness, Haydn often found solace by sitt ing at the piano and playing

Gotterhalte Franz den Kaiser, w hich he had composed himself as a patr iotic gesture in

1797. This melody later w as used for the

Austrian and German national anthems.

Haydn died at the end of May in 1809, shortly

after an attack on Vienna by the French army under Napoleon. He w as 77. Among his last

words was his attempt to calm and reassure

his servants w hen cannon shot fell in the

neighbourhood. "My children, have no fear, for

where Haydn is, no harm can fall." Tw o w eeks

later, a memorial service w as held in the

Schottenkirche on June 15, 1809, at w hich

Mozart's Requiem w as performed.

Haydn made a fortune from his composit ion,

and at his death left a net estate of over

10,000 f lor ins, hundreds of times the median

estate of a composer in Vienna at that t ime,

and placed solidly in the upper-middle c lass.

Haydn’s House in Vienna (Now a museum)

Jacqueline Foan (Soprano)

Jacqueline commenced her career in Musical Theatre singing various roles from the classics to modern

day musicals. While w orking w ith Shannon Her itage in Bunratty Castle she w as aw arded a bursary to further her singing studies. This bursary enabled Jacqueline to study in the Leinster Opera Studio under

Dr. Veroica Dunne, performing Susanna (The Marriage of Figaro);

Nor ina (Don Pasquale); Adina (L’Elisir D’Amore) and Johanna

(Sw eeney Todd). Jacqueline has sung w ith English National Opera,

Opera Ireland, Br itish Youth Opera, Opera Unlimited and Surrey

Opera.

Roles have included Cupid (Orpheus and the Underw orld), Despina

(Cos ì fan tutte), Susanna (The Marriage of Figaro), Zerlina (Don

Giovanni), 1st Nymph (Rusalka) 1st Boy (The Magic Flute), Mabel &

Edith (The Pirates of Penzance), Katie (The Student Pr ince). Television and radio credits inc lude soloist for The Late Late Show

(R.T.E. Ireland) Gay Byrne Hour (R.T.E. Ireland) and Theatre Nights

(R.T.E. Ireland).

In Oratorio Jacqueline has performed principal soprano in Rossini’s

Petite Messe Solennelle, Bach’s B Minor Mass, Fauré’s Requiem,

Handel’s Messiah, Hadyn’s Creation, Car l Orff ’s Carmina Burana,

Brahms’ Requiem, Rutter’s Mass of the Children and Jenkin’s

Requiem. Jacqueline also runs a singing teaching practice in Corfe

Mullen, Wimborne w ith her husband, Andrew .

Colin Howard (Tenor)

Colin How ard studied piano w ith Angus Morrison, conducting w ith Vernon Handley, cello w ith Hervey

Phillips and s inging pr ivately w ith Caroline Friend at the Royal

College of Music w here he w as a post-graduate scholar as a

conductor (Bonner Scholarship and Adrian Boult Pr ize) and

Pres ident of the Student Union. He w as a boy chorister at Exeter College & Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford and has sung w ith

many cathedral, church and chamber choirs since, notably

Salisbury and Winchester Cathedral choirs, including tours to

Germany, South Africa and the United States.

Colin has been Director of Mus ic at Highgate, Canford and The Purcell School; he w as a member of the music staff at Winchester

College and St Mary’s School, Calne. Conducting posts have

included the Finchley Children’s Music Group, chorus -master to

Chelsea Opera Group, The Guildford Singers, The Holst Singers &

Bournemouth Bach Choir. He directed the Orchestra of the Sw an

and the Tw o Moors Festival Chorus at the opening concert of the

Festival last October in Exeter Cathedral. He has performed at the

Queen Elizabeth Hall, the Purcell Room and Snape Malt ings (in

the Aldeburgh Festival) and has directed the f irst performance of

new choral w orks by Nicholas Maw , John Rutter, Robert Spearing and John Tavener. Work as an accompanist has included recitals w ith Thomas Hems ley, Stephen

Isserlis, John Noble and Jan Peter Schmolck.

As tenor soloist his recent engagements have included Monteverdi’s Vespers for the Paragon Singers in

Bath and Tippett ’s cycle, The Heart’s Assurance w ith the pianist Anna Roberts for both the Corsham and

Salisbury Festivals in 2005. For the 50th anniversary of Finz i’s death in 2006, he performed all of Finzi’s cycles for tenor voice w ith the pianist Duncan Honeybourne in Weymouth. In addition to his w ork as

Musical Director of the Farrant Singers, he is conductor of the Corsham Choral Society and chorus -

master of the Tw o Moors Festival. He is w ell-know n as an adjudicator and examiner and is Musical

Director of the National Chamber Music Course.

Haydn - The Seasons Shortly after his return to the Esterházy court, Haydn w as

commissioned by Baron Gottfried van Sw ieten to compose a new

oratorio based upon the Baron’s ow n German trans lation of portions

of John Milton’s Paradise Lost. Haydn accepted the commission and led the f irst performance of The Creation in Vienna in April

1798. The w ork proved to be immensely popular w ith audiences,

both at home and throughout Europe, and van Sw ieten w ished to

capitalize upon the w ork’s success. Almost immediately, he

approached Haydn w ith a proposal for a second oratorio, this t ime

to be based upon van Sw ieten’s rendering of James Thomson’s

epic poem, The Seasons. Haydn began w ork on the score in 1799,

and the f irst public performance w as given in Vienna in April 1801.

The new oratorio w as published almost immediately by the Leipzig

f irm of Breitkopf & Härtel, and, like The Creation, soon came to be admired by audiences and

performers across Europe.

The name of the Scott ish poet James Thomson (1700-1748) is less

well-know n today, but in the eighteenth century, his 4300 line poem,

The Seasons, w as translated into many languages and quickly became

an international bestseller. The poem focuses mainly upon the

relationship betw een human beings and a natural w orld regulated by

the all-pervading presence of God. In translating Thomson’s English

into German, van Sw ieten maintained much of Thomson’s tone, w hile

paying litt le heed to the more local details of the poem. Van Sw ieten’s text is w idely acknow ledged to be an unfortunate modif ied version of

Thomson’s poem, and many English singing translations have made

attempts to restore some of Thomson’s text. Unfortunately, Haydn w as

not setting Thomson but van Sw ieten, and most of the singing

translations that have tried to “f ix” van Sw ieten result in English

equivalents that are incredibly aw kw ard to sing. The new English

translation of the text by Michael Pilkington (published by Novello ISBN

0-7119-8464-6) that w e are using in today’s performance does an

admirable job of minimizing these problems.

James Thomson (1700-1748)

Andrew Foan (Bass)

Andrew ’s recent operatic roles have included Leporello (Don

Giovanni), Zuniga (Carmen), Count Ribbing (Ballo in

Maschera),Sw allow (Peter Grimes), Baron Zeta (The Merry Widow ),

Uberto (La Serva Padrona), Figaro (Le Nozze di Figaro), Sarastro

(The Magic Flute), Angelotti (Tosca), Bonze (Madame Butterf ly) and

Guglielmo (Cos ì fan Tutte) for companies including Scott ish Opera, L’Orchestra di Venezia, Pav ilion Opera and Surrey Opera.

His oratorio performances both in the UK and Italy include Haydn’s

Creation, Rossini’s Petite Messe Solennelle and Stabat Mater,

Mendelssohn’s Elijah, Bach’s Christmas Oratorio and St John

Passion, Mozart’s Requiem and Fauré’s Requiem. He has also

regularly appeared on the concert platform w ith both the Orchestra di

Venezia and the Orchestra da Camera di Venezia in Venice and the

surrounding region.

Andrew w as a f inalist in last year’s United Kingdom Bayreuth Bursary Wagner competit ion, and has

recently covered James Rutherford in the role of Hans Sachs in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg.

When Andrew is not performing he runs a successful teaching practice Dorset w ith his w ife.

Haydn - The Seasons

SPRING

Introduction and Recitative Recitative - Behold how surly winter flies

Chorus of Country Folk - Come, gentle spring!

Recitative - The farmer now his work has done

Trio and Chorus - Prayer Now be gracious, bounteous heaven

Chorus - Wonderful, powerful, merciful God!

SUMMER

Introduction and Recitative - In misty mantle now draws near

Aria and Recitative - So now the cheerful shepherd goes

Trio with Chorus - And now ascends the sun

Recitative - And ev’ryone now is stirr’d into life

Cavatina - Now nature sinks beneath the weight

Recitative - O see! There rises in the sultry air

Chorus - Ah, the thunderstorm comes near

Trio with Chorus - And now the storm has passed away

INTERVAL

AUTUMN

Introduction and Recitative - What with all its blossoms was promis’d by the Spring

Trio with Chorus - So Nature thus rewards his toil

Recitative - Now on the bare denuded fields

Aria - Look there upon the open field

Recitative - The shining grapes are fully ripe

Chorus - Joho, joho, the wine is here

WINTER

Introduction and Recitative - Now pale, the year begins to fade

Cavatina - Light and life are both enfeebled

Song with Chorus - There was a squire as I’ve heard say

Recitative - From out the East there comes an icy blast

Aria and Recitative - So understand, misguided man

Trio with Double Chorus - Then comes the great and glorious morn

St Peters Orchestra

VIOLINS Andrew Foot (Leader)

Martin Briggs

Barbara Hooper

Piotr Kopec Kathy Bocking

Sandra Parsons

Cathy Beeby

VIOLAS Graham Hancock

Marian Criscuolo

Elizabeth Knight Martin Tomkins

CELLOS Mary Apperley

Hilary Popple

BASS Barry Glynn

FLUTES Roz Trübger

Annabelle Catley

OBOE Jade Othen

Hilary Tointon

CLARINETS Gwenda Malpas

Barry Kinsman

BASSOON Julia Lockett

Tess Maybury

HORNS Ieuan Davis

Ann Thornton Colin Cortney

TRUMPETS Winston Leese

Brian Wright

TROMBONES Phil Humphries

Paul Rycroft

PERCUSSION Rob Vint

HARPSICHORD David Beeby

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Sopranos

Christine Arnold Jill Bickley Deborah Cooke

Thelma Doody Sylvia Elkins

Ann Hitchcoe Jo Hollis Margaret Lewis

Mary Norrish

Marian Pearce Pamela Spencer Hilary Spillard

Marian Starkey Sally Steadman

Sue Verrall Joan Willis Brenda Woodham

Jenny Wright

Altos

Pat Baker Gillian Blake Isabel Broom

Pam Brown Peggy Brown

Joy Chiari Maureen Clark Daphne Earl

Molly Edwards Sally Elliot Marion Fuge

Jill Goreham Helen Hall Joan Hawkins

Beryl Lenham Isobel McConville

Nita Parke Hazel Potter Michelle Smyth

Vickie Thomas Cheryl Veal Hilary Warner

Tenors

Tony Benson Adrian Butement Dave Cooke

Keith Hollis Eric Lenham

Chris Mahon Roger Owen Adrian Purkiss

Paul Thomas

Basses

Roy Birch Ian Dolman Tony Gatward

Ted Greenway Tony Hartle

Dick Keslake Noel Skerman David Spracklen

Peter Winter

Barclays House Choir

Barclays House Choir

Barclays House Choir, originally named Barclays House Sports

and Social Club Musical Society, was founded following the completion of the new Head Office of Barclays International in Poole, Dorset. The first rehearsal was held on 5 October 1976, when ten singers met to rehearse for a

planned Christmas Concert. Numbers grew and 21 finally took part in the concert held in Barclays House. Since that time membership has widened and now consists of about 70 members drawn from many occupations. Under the musical direction of James (Jim) Grocott, who has led the choir for the last 33 years, the group has performed many of the major choral works including Handel's Messiah, Haydn's Creation, Vivaldi's Gloria and Brahms's Requiem, as well as more modern compositions such as Rutter's Magnificat.

Most of the choir's concerts also involve the 35 strong St Peter's Orchestra, leader Andrew Foot, whose support is always very much appreciated. The choir receives the financial support of the Barclays Bank Arts Council, and all concerts are given with their support and sponsorship. This sponsorship allows us to present the concerts in the format we do. Without this help, such a format would probably not be possible. This continuing support, especially when

Barclays are reducing in size in the area is very much appreciated. If you wish to discuss any aspect relating to the choir or any other matter, please speak to James Grocott (Musical Director) or Dave Cooke (Chairman) or Adrian Purkiss (Treasurer and Webmaster and Managing Director of WAVP Limited). You may also like to visit our website at www.bhchoir.org.uk where you can also

listen to the choir. If you have enjoyed tonight concert then please make a date in your diary. Sunday 12th December 2010 in this Church commencing at 6:30pm “An Evening of Christmas Music with Carols for All” given by the Barclays House Choir and St Peter’s Orchestra. Tickets may be purchased via the internet at www.bhchoir.org.uk from 1st October 2010.