LUIGI CHERUBINI: Lodoïska – overture
HENRI-JOSEPH RIGEL: Symphony No. 4 in C minor, Op. 12
WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART: Violin Concerto in G major, K. 216
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LUIGI CHERUBINI: Démophoon – overture
FRANCOIS-JOSEPH GOSSEC: Sabinus – excerpts from the Ballet Suite
JOSEPH HAYDN: Symphony No. 100 in G major, (“Military”), Hob. I:100

Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra

Conductor and featuring on violin: Julien Chauvin

The audience can look forward to a thrilling programme from the Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra and their special guest, the French musician Julien Chauvin, who will take the stage as both violinist and conductor. Mozart and Haydn’s music, the much-loved Violin Concerto in G major (K. 216) and the similarly popular Symphony No. 100 in G major (“Military”), (Hob. I:100) come from the First Viennese School, while the two works from Luigi Cherubini and one each from Henri-Joseph Rigel and Francois-Joseph represent those French composers (though Cherubini and Rigel were of Italian and German birth respectively) who were their contemporaries. The Viennese Classics – and the music played in the same era in Paris…

How many Hungarians are aware that Francois-Joseph Gossec’s (1734–1827) Gavotte in D major was the title music for Mazsola és Tádé, the popular puppet show from the golden age of Hungarian television? Certainly very few, given that Gossec’s music was never performed in Hungary, just as we have generally neglected the French contemporaries of the First Viennese School. On this occasion, the Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra’s concert will feature the music of not only Mozart (Violin Concerto in G major, K. 216) and Haydn (Symphony No. 100 in G major (“Military”), Hob. I:100), but also Luigi Cherubini: Lodoïska and Démophoon Overture); Henri-Joseph Rigel (Symphony No. 4 in C minor, Op. 12) and Francois-Joseph Gossec (Sabinus – extracts from the ballet suite). Viennese Classics and ‘Paris Classics’? It is slightly more complicated than that, given that the Frenchmen Cherubini and Rigel were actually Italian- and German-born, respectively. And with regards to classical compositions created on French soil in the era of the Viennese Classics, the ‘musical rules’ in vogue there were not entirely the same, and the French style itself was a little different. But these subtleties are exactly what the Hungarian National Philharmonic’s versatile special guest, the world-famous early music performer Julien Chauvin, is looking to demonstrate to the audience with his violin play and conducting.